U.S. Urges Pakistan to Help Capture Taliban Leaders

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PAKISTAN – U.S. and NATO forces are concentrating their military efforts in Quetta, the capital of the Baluchistan Province, Pakistan. Quetta is believed to be the center of operations for Taliban leaders and where the group has been sending supplies such as arms, money and fighters to southern Afghanistan.

Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar is one of many said to be hiding in Quetta. It is claimed that he guides commanders in southern Afghanistan, raises money from Gulf donors and delivers arms and fighters.

The U.S. intends to send about 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, but military officials say that this effort may be fruitless unless Pakistan assists in capturing Taliban leaders and cutting supply lines into Afghanistan.

U.S. and other western officials claim that Pakistani security forces do little to address the presence of Taliban military commanders in Quetta.

Pakistani officials state that their intelligence does not indicate where Taliban leaders are located.

“Pakistan will act against any individuals involved with Al Qaeda or the Taliban about whom we have actionable intelligence,” said Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S. “The problem is we do not always get actionable intelligence in Quetta in particular. It’s a very messy area.”

Some officials understand the hardship of the Pakistani government in Islamabad in capturing Taliban leaders. The Baluchistan Province has been a known hostile area to the government and it is difficult for government spies to get sources there.

However, members of the Obama administration believe that it must put pressure upon the Pakistani government to aid in U.S. efforts. “We’ve made some progress going into the tribal areas and North-West Frontier Province against Al Qaeda, but we have not had a counterpart war against the Quetta shura,” said a senior Obama administration official. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the Obama administration will threaten to cut off military aid to Islamabad unless Pakistan carries out a crackdown on militants operating throughout the country.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Pakistan Complicit in Killing by Taliban, a Polish Official Says – 10 February 2009

International Herald Tribune – The Taliban in Pakistan are Raising U.S. Fears – 10 February 2009

Newsweek – Pakistan’s Dangerous Double Game – 13 September 2008

Author: Impunity Watch Archive