waraich66
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2008
- Messages
- 4,641
- Reaction score
- -2
- Country
- Location
Mulla Omar in Karachi, claims WT
Saturday, November 21, 2009
WASHINGTON: Mulla Muhammed Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, has fled Quetta and found refuge from the potential US attacks in Karachi with the assistance of Pakistans intelligence, the Washington Times claimed on Friday.
The newspaper, without producing any proof, alleged that Mulla Omar had been residing in Quetta, where the Afghan Taliban Shura had moved from Kandahar after the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Two senior US intelligence officials and one former senior CIA officer told The Washington Times that Mulla Omar travelled to Karachi last month after the end of Ramazan. He inaugurated a new senior leadership council in Karachi, the officials said.
The officials, two of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, accused the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of helping the Taliban leaders move from Quetta, where they were exposed to attacks by the US drones.
Bruce Riedel, a CIA veteran and analyst on al-Qaeda and the Taliban, alleged that Mulla Omar had been spotted in Karachi recently. Some sources claim the ISI decided to move him further from the battlefield to keep him safe from the US drone attacks, said Riedel. There are huge Madrassas in Karachi where Mulla Omar could easily be kept.
Riedel also noted that there had been a few suicide bombings in Karachi, which he attributed to the Taliban and al-Qaeda not wanting to foul their own nest. A US counter-terrorism official said: There are indications of some kind of bleed-out of Taliban types from Quetta to Karachi, but no one should assume at this point that the entire Afghan Taliban leadership has packed up its bags and headed for another Pakistani city.
A second senior intelligence officer, who specialises in monitoring al-Qaeda, said the US intelligence had confirmed Mulla Omars move through both electronic and human sources as well as intelligence from an unnamed allied service.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
WASHINGTON: Mulla Muhammed Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, has fled Quetta and found refuge from the potential US attacks in Karachi with the assistance of Pakistans intelligence, the Washington Times claimed on Friday.
The newspaper, without producing any proof, alleged that Mulla Omar had been residing in Quetta, where the Afghan Taliban Shura had moved from Kandahar after the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Two senior US intelligence officials and one former senior CIA officer told The Washington Times that Mulla Omar travelled to Karachi last month after the end of Ramazan. He inaugurated a new senior leadership council in Karachi, the officials said.
The officials, two of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, accused the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of helping the Taliban leaders move from Quetta, where they were exposed to attacks by the US drones.
Bruce Riedel, a CIA veteran and analyst on al-Qaeda and the Taliban, alleged that Mulla Omar had been spotted in Karachi recently. Some sources claim the ISI decided to move him further from the battlefield to keep him safe from the US drone attacks, said Riedel. There are huge Madrassas in Karachi where Mulla Omar could easily be kept.
Riedel also noted that there had been a few suicide bombings in Karachi, which he attributed to the Taliban and al-Qaeda not wanting to foul their own nest. A US counter-terrorism official said: There are indications of some kind of bleed-out of Taliban types from Quetta to Karachi, but no one should assume at this point that the entire Afghan Taliban leadership has packed up its bags and headed for another Pakistani city.
A second senior intelligence officer, who specialises in monitoring al-Qaeda, said the US intelligence had confirmed Mulla Omars move through both electronic and human sources as well as intelligence from an unnamed allied service.