Taliban sources in the North West Frontier Province have confirmed to NBC News that two Taliban commanders were arrested more than a week ago in southwest Pakistan. Pakistani security forces raided at the Gul Park Hotel in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, and arrested Ameer Khan Haqani, commander of Zabul province in Afghanistan, and Jaland Abdullah Sarhadi of Kandahar.
| Haqqani isn't Jalaluddin Haqqani, of course. He'd be too much of a catch. |
| Sarhadi had been detained for more than three years in Guantanamo Bay after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. He was later released by U.S. authorities. |
Sarhadi had been detained for more than three years in Guantanamo Bay after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. He was later released by U.S. authorities.
| ... as part of the catch and release program. He was innocent as a babe, pure as the driven snow... |
It is widely believed among the Taliban rank and file that it was the information extracted from these two men that led to the capture of Mullah Obaidullah, the former Taliban defense minister and close confidante of Taliban leader Mullah Omar on Monday.
| That's the way intel is supposed to work. Of course, in this case they coulda just looked in the phone book. It's not like Obaidullah was an unknown quantity. |
|