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Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Amir al Mumineen (“the commander of the faithful”) of the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban. |
While French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner’s statement that Mullah Omar is sheltering in Pakistan is no great revelation, kudos to him for stating the painfully obvious. From AFP via Dawn:
“It’s not a secret for anyone, everyone knows that Mullah Omar is in Quetta, if he’s not now in Karachi,” Kouchner told French lawmakers, referring to two major Pakistani cities known to harbour militant cells.
Mullah Omar was the leader of the Taliban regime that was overthrown in Afghanistan by US-led forces in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks and is now thought to be based in Quetta.
“Taliban leaders have been given shelter in Pakistan. I’m not revealing anything,” Kouchner said, telling parliament’s foreign relations committee why Afghanistan has called on Pakistan to help negotiate a peace deal.
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3 Comments
Yes, its obvious he’s being protected. If we are not gonna go all the way on this [KILL OMAR] we better start talking. Negotiate from a position of strengths, and hand over the keys. I cannot believe we can’t get to Omar. This whole thing is like being in a room full of mirrors. I wish the troops Godspeed in their offensive, announced today 9/15
And “It’s not a secret” Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahari are in Pakistan. Or that Pakistan is playing a duplicitous game; taking our money to arm the Taliban who fight us in Afghanistan. The real secret is why we have allowed this to go on. The more they yank our strings, the more we pay them. Will Pakistan ever be held accountable and pay the consequences of their double-dealings? What is the true nature of the hold that they have over us? Is it their nukes? Their supply routes into Afghanistan? The services that they provide us with one hand while stabbing us with the other?
There is also no point in talking to Mullah Omar because he is married to one of Bin Laden’s daughters (or is it the other way around?). Omar, like Bin Laden, is an over-mythologized figurehead, a useful rallying mask for the ISI and/or the Salafi/Wahabi/Deobandi wizards-of-oz who are actually pulling the levers from behind the scene.
As with The Shining Path’s erstwhile leader, Omar and Bin Laden need to be demythologized by capture and public exhibition to demonstrate their impotence.
“The real secret is why we have allowed this to go on. The more they yank our strings, the more we pay them. What is the true nature of the hold that they have over us?”
This really is THE question isn’t it?
My posit is thus: There really is no “hard” documentable proof of Omar’s location and protection by the ISI. All “proof” is anecdotal. If the French politician had such hard proof why wouldn’t he put it forth? A technicality I know, but there it is.
Secondly, the current U.S. administration cannot open another massive war front in Pakistan for political, logistical and financial reasons.
Thirdly any missile strike or spec ops raid in a large Pak city may ignite a general revolt of a large portion of the Pak populace and threaten an already shaky government.
For the time being the powers that be have judged that it is better to deal with the situation (and the Paks) as it is and concentrate on the Afghan situation and pound the Tribal areas with missiles for the time being.