Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !

Mullah Obaidullah Akhund

Mullah Obaidullah Akhund

Taliban

Afghanistan/South Asia

20040319

Afghanistan

Taliban: Mullah Obaidullah died in Pakistan in 2010, Paks maybe dunnit

2012-02-13

Former Taliban Defence Minister, Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, had died on March 5th 2010 due to a heart attack in one of the Pak prisons in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , Taliban confirmed on Monday. Mullah Obaidullah Akhund was captured on January 3rd 2007 by Pak security forces in Quetta city of Pakistain. He served as the Taliban's Defence Minister from 1996 to 2001. Taliban's government was toppled by US-led operation in 2001 after deadly attacks targeted World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. Details of the controversial death of Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, are still unclear, Taliban said in a statement. The statement called on Pak officials to provide full details about the death. His death might have occurred due to torture at the prison or an heart attack, the Taliban added. Several high ranking Taliban officials have been captured by Pak security forces which made landmarks in the fight against insurgency. Taliban who are accused of having strong ties with al-Qaeda have lost their key leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistain since the start of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... -led mission in Afghanistan. Most of the Taliban leaders have been killed in US drone strikes in Wazoo area of Pakistain where hideouts of most of the Taliban and other beturbanned goon groups exist.

Link

India-Pakistan

Top Qaeda operative held in Multan

2008-07-16

Security agencies arrested a top Al Qaeda operative late on Monday along with his two accomplices in Punjab's southern city of Multan, sources told Daily Times on Tuesday. The personnel of the security agencies arrested the three suspected terrorists from a shutdown 'Neel Wali Factory' located on Abdali Road, the sources said. Officials have identified the suspects as Tanzanian national Muhammad Al Misri, Anwar Muawiya and Muhammad Shahid. The sources said the arrest of Al Misri is the second biggest catch following the arrest of Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, former defence minister in the Taliban government, on March 2, 2007. Wave: The officials said that Al Misri is closely linked with Al Qaeda's top hierarchy. Al Misri is also suspected to be behind the series of suicide attacks in the country following the crackdown on the Lal Masjid codenamed 'Operation Silence', they said. The sources said that according to preliminary investigations, Al Misri knows five languages including English, Persian, Arabic, Pushto and Urdu. Anwar, a resident of Abbotabad, belongs to the banned Lashkar e Jhangvi (LJ), the sources said, adding Shahid, another LJ activist, is a local of Multan. The three militants were hiding in the factory for the past one week, the sources said.

Link

India-Pakistan

Pakistan swapped top Taliban leaders for its ambassador

2008-05-29

Pakistan swapped two senior Taliban leaders for the release of its kidnapped envoy to Afghanistan, a media report said on Wednesday. No! Reeeeally? Who'da thunkit? "Despite the fact that the government authorities have repeatedly denied the release, both the militant leaders reached Afghanistan around two weeks back," the News said. Quoting sources, it said the two leaders, identified as Mullah Obaidullah Akhund and Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, were freed along with "hundreds" of other militants to secure the release of Pakistani envoy to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin. An eminent jihadi leader from Afghanistan confirmed it, saying the two militant leaders had reached their homeland around two weeks back. "The release of both the Taliban commanders was part of a package deal between the Pakistani authorities and the Taliban under which 35 army personnel were also released besides Pakistani ambassador and his staff," the News quoted the jihadi leader, who was not identified, as saying. Taliban militants had abducted Azizuddin three months ago while he was travelling in Pakistan's tribal areas in the country's north. He was released on May 15.

Link

India-Pakistan

Pakistan swapped Taliban for envoy

2008-05-19

TOP Taliban militants - including possibly Mullah Omar's deputy Mullah Obaidullah Akhund - were believed to be on their way back to the battlefield last night after being freed by Pakistan's new Government as part of a deal to gain the release of the country's kidnapped ambassador to Kabul. A full-scale withdrawal of Pakistan forces was under way from region of South Waziristan. At the same time, reports indicated that a full-scale withdrawal of Pakistan forces was under way from the strategic region of South Waziristan, which is dominated by the al-Qa'ida- and Taliban-linked commander Baitullah Mehsud and serves as a key launching pad for attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan. The released ambassador, Tariq Azizuddin, seized by militants before Islamabad's election in February as he drove with bodyguards inside Pakistan territory along the main highway that leads to Afghanistan, is believed to have been held in South Waziristan. Last night, as Mr Azizuddin was reunited with his family at his home in Rawalpindi, government officials insisted no deal had been done to secure his release. Pakistani newspapers reported that at least 12 "senior militants" including Mullah Obaidullah - Afghanistan's defence minister when the Taliban held power in Kabul, and a legendary fighter whose importance, analysts say, cannot be overstated - were freed as part of a deal in which 55 Pakistani soldiers as well as Mr Azizuddin were released, though Islamabad officials denied this. Conflicting reports said that while Mullah Obaidullah was on the top of a list of more than 50 Taliban commanders whose release was demanded as part of the deal, Islamabad had declined to free him. Linked to the release deal, however, are believed to be the military pullout from South Waziristan and other moves to reach peace accords with the militants. The prospect of some of the most hardline and effective jihadi militants being freed, and of the pullout from South Waziristan presaging similar retreats elsewhere, is likely to cause serious dismay in Washington, within NATO and among nations concerned about the seriously stepped-up levels of cross-border infiltration into Afghanistan from Pakistan. When he was captured by Pakistani forces in the Balochistan capital of Quetta in March last year, Mullah Obaidullah was regarded as an important catch in the war against the Taliban. US President George W. Bush is expected to seek personal assurances about the Pakistani Government's commitment to the war on terror when he meets Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum at Sharm el-Sheikh. Washington has made no bones about its apprehensions over the peace deals being negotiated, and events surrounding the release of Mr Azizuddin will, according to analysts in Islamabad, do nothing to mitigate those concerns. Meanwhile, the political problems confronting the fledgling Government were underlined last night when it was announced that the powerful lawyers' movement credited with leading the fight for democracy against President Pervez Musharraf is to start another "long march" - this time to try to force the restoration to office of the country's sacked judges. A meeting in the Punjab capital of Lahore decided yesterday to target Pakistan People's Party leader Asif Ali Zardari. He is seen as the main obstacle to the reinstatement of the judges sacked when Mr Musharraf declared his state of emergency last November. The march, due to begin on June 10, with lawyers from across Pakistan setting out for Islamabad in what is set to pose a huge challenge for the Government, is aimed at forcing Mr Zardari to change his stance. Reports last night said that as relations with his main coalition partner, Nawaz Sharif, deteriorate, Mr Zardari was working out a "minus Nawaz" strategy that, to the delight of Mr Musharraf, would see the evolution of a two-thirds majority for a coalition made up of the PPP and parties allied to Mr Musharraf.

Link

India-Pakistan

Security agencies arrest Mullah Obaidullah again

2008-02-25

Intelligence agencies have once again arrested the Taliban Majlis-e-Shura’s former defence minister Mullah Obaidullah Akhund along with two other Afghan nationals from Lahore, along with two other Afghan nationals, intelligence sources told Daily Times on Sunday. The sources revealed that Obaidullah had been arrested in 2006 in Quetta and was released after around nine months, after which he fled to Afghanistan. This time he arrived in Pakistan to generate funds, the sources said, adding that he, along with Pakistani allies, had visited several cities in this regard. The sources revealed that Obaidullah had arrived in Pakistan in the first week of January 2008, and had contacted several influential personalities with links to banned militant organisations. During their visits, Obaidullah had, during rapid visits between cities, convinced several people to provide funding to support the Taliban’s cause, the sources added. Later, after arriving in Lahore where he was residing in one of the city’s posh localities, the Afghans’ meetings with financially strong business personalities continued for the sake of generating funds. After a tip off, the group was arrested and shifted to an unknown location, according to the sources. They said that Mullah Obaidullah had been the Taliban defence minister during 1996 till the US toppled the government in the fall of 2001. He is a senior Taliban figure and is considered by American intelligence officials to have been one of the Taliban leaders closest to Osama Bin Laden, as well as part of the inner core of the Taliban leadership around Mullah Muhammad Omar. Obaidullah is a member of the Taliban Majlis-e-Shura, or executive council, and is thought to be third in command, they added.

Link

India-Pakistan

Mansewer Dadullah is Deadullah or Aliveullah - Unauthorized Officials

2008-02-11

QUETTA, Pakistan — Pakistani security forces critically wounded a top figure in the Taliban militia fighting U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, one of six militants captured after a clash near the border Monday, the army said. We've got at least two other versions of this going, both under Afghanistan and Pakistain, but this adds a bit more detail, along with another pound of mud. Mansoor Dadullah, brother of slain Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah, and the five others were challenged by security forces as they crossed from Afghanistan into Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan. They refused to stop and opened fire, said army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas. "Security personnel returned fire. As a result, all of them sustained injuries and all of them were captured," Abbas said. "Dadullah was arrested alive but he is critically wounded." "There's a difference between being dead and mostly dead. When they're dead, all you can do is go through their pockets looking for change." Earlier, a senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists, said Dadullah died of his wounds while being flown to a hospital with the other injured men. "[Gasp! Wheeze! Gag!] Roseburrrrrr..." Two Pakistani intelligence officials, who declined to be named for the same reason, gave a different account of Dadullah's capture, saying he was nabbed during a raid on a religious seminary in a neighboring district. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the differing accounts. That's because at least one and possibly both of the stories are complete and intentional lies. I'd guess the madrassah story to be the more likely, though whether it was a raid or not is another question entirely. It's just as likely, and maybe moreso, that there was a shootout between two Koran study groups and the cops were called to haul away the bodies. Dadullah's capture comes amid growing Western pressure on Pakistan to crack down on Islamic militants launching attacks inside Afghanistan but increasingly destabilizing Pakistan itself. Picked right up on that, didn't they? And Mullah Mansour happens to be on Mullah Omar's pooplist, rendering him expendable. So it's likely he's gonna heroically die of his injuries. In Afghanistan, officials reacted cautiously. Spokesmen at Afghanistan's Interior and Defense ministries said they had no immediate comment. "Piss off. We got nuttin' to say." Lt. Col. David Accetta, the top U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan, said he could not confirm the report. "Mullah Who'djasay?" Dadullah rose in the militia's ranks as an important commander in southern Afghanistan after his brother was killed during a military operation in Afghanistan's Helmand province in May. We know he's titzup. They showed the meat in that one. Abbas, the army spokesman, said Dadullah was captured near Gaddal, a border village in Qila Saifullah district in Baluchistan. Two Pakistani intelligence officials, however, gave the location as Gwal Ismailzai village, in neighboring Zhob district. They said five militants, not six, were captured and wounded, some critically. One of the officials identified those captured with Dadullah on Monday as Haji Lala, Khudai Dad, Khaliq Dad and Abdur Razzak. He said the injured suspects were whisked away by an army helicopter from Zhob airport to an unknown destination. In July 2007, another prominent militant, Abdullah Mehsud, died in Zhob, apparently after he was cornered by Pakistani security forces. Mehsud was a Taliban veteran of Guantanamo Bay who began fighting Pakistani security forces after his release from the U.S. prison for terror suspects in 2004. In March 2007, two months before Mullah Dadullah was killed in Helmand, Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, one of the two top deputies of Taliban supreme leader Omar, was arrested in Quetta — where Afghan officials claim Omar is hiding. In December 2006, another top Omar lieutenant, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani, died in a NATO airstrike in Helmand, near the Pakistan border.

Link

India-Pakistan

While Pak Burns Perv Releases Top Talib Murders Into The Wind

2007-11-11

President Pervez Musharraf's newly declared state of emergency, his government has just let more than two dozen militant Islamists out of jail. Protesters might be even angrier if Musharraf disclosed the names of some of those freed militants. Taliban sources tell NEWSWEAK that the top man on the list was Mullah Obaidullah Akhund—the highest-ranking Taliban official ever captured by the Pakistanis. As one of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar's closest confidants and his defense minister until the post 9-11 invasion of Afghanistan, Obaidullah was No. 3 in the group's hierarchy and a member of its ruling 10-man shura (council). His arrest on Feb. 26 seems to have been anything but a coincidence. That was the very day that Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Islamabad on an unannounced visit to demand a crackdown on Taliban operations in Pakistan. Washington was out of patience with Taliban commanders not only roaming free in Pakistan's tribal lands but even being allowed to hide in plain sight in cities like Quetta--the provincial capital near the Afghan border where Obaidullah was captured, along with the Taliban's senior Zabul province commander, Amir Khan Haqqani and another Mullah Omar confidant, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani. Obaidullah, Haqqani, Osmani and others might still be in jail if not for a Pakistani military convoy that encountered a rockslide on a highway in South Waziristan in late August. The vehicles were quickly surrounded by fighters loyal to the notorious Pakistani tribal warlord Baitullah Mehsud, a veteran Taliban supporter who operates training camps for suicide bombers in his territory. More than 250 government troops were in the convoy, and they all surrendered without a shot being fired. Mehsud later beheaded several of his captives before Musharraf agreed to a prisoner swap. Jumpin' Jimminy Crickical! it all sounds soo Coincedinkyical! like it 'twer prearrainged or sumthin? more Perv and ISI funnies at the linky

Link

India-Pakistan

Musharraf's big chance

2007-07-29

By Ed Royce During my recent meeting with President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad, it was apparent Pakistan has been sinking deeper into inner turmoil. The intensity of radicalism in the tribal areas and throughout the country is an ever-growing threat to the Musharraf government. The recent Red Mosque standoff, which was promoting the Talibanization of Pakistan and culminated in a government raid, proved that violence from radical Islamists had now reached Islamabad. In the clashes that have followed, some 170 people died in insurgent attacks. This recent upsurge in violence may finally force Mr. Musharraf to take a hard-line stance against radicals. His not doing so may precipitate a U.S. tactical intervention over the Afghan border to quell cross border raids on the Taliban. This is an eventuality neither Mr. Musharraf nor the U.S. would like to see. Since the September 2006 peace agreement, al Qaeda has enjoyed a virtual safe haven in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the northern border with Afghanistan. By pulling back barracks and removing military checkpoints, Mr. Musharraf hoped for peaceful co-existence with this troubled region, but the deal gave the Taliban and al Qaeda breathing room. The recently released National Intelligence Estimate confirms this, saying al Qaeda has "regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability." Indeed, a CIA official recently testified on Capitol Hill that al Qaeda appears "to be fairly well settled into the safe haven in the ungoverned spaces of Pakistan.... We see more training. We see more money. We see more communications." For the sake of our security, we had better see action. The FATA should not be overlooked, the way many turned a blind eye to the radicalization of Afghanistan under the Taliban's control. Allowed to operate freely, terrorists were able to train and plot virtually unimpeded. The attacks on America of September 11, 2001, were the result. Past efforts by Mr. Musharraf to bring order to the FATA have failed. His offers of amnesty to militant tribals who "surrender," while fighting those who resist, did little to rid the region of Islamist radicals. Other fighting has done little to uproot tribal ties to the Taliban and al Qaeda, bringing sizable death tolls to both sides while further entrenching distrust between the FATA and Islamabad. One reason for its failure to root out radicalism in the FATA has been Islamabad's unwillingness to fight the Taliban with the same ferocity it has fought al Qaeda. Radical religious schools or madrassas throughout the country have long spewed anti-American sentiment and continue to radicalize the FATA. The Musharraf government has placated the U.S. while refusing to sever ties with the Taliban. Its timely capture of notable Taliban leaders have routinely corresponded with high-level U.S. visits, as in the apprehension of the Taliban's former defense minister, Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, caught just hours after Vice President Dick Cheney met with Mr. Musharraf. The recent events at the Red Mosque severed these ties, however. While human-rights pressures can be quelled by granting greater government transparency and increased political rights, the Islamist fundamentalists can not be reasonably addressed. Those holed up in the Red Mosque did not seek free and fair elections. Their goal is a Taliban-type rule based entirely on Islamic law. Mr. Musharraf's livelihood has been tied to U.S. good will. Nothing would better help secure his place as an ally of the U.S. government than the presentation of Osama bin Laden, who is believed to have found refuge in Pakistan. With a total of nearly $5 billion (or an average of $80 million per month) in aid disbursed to Islamabad since 2002, we had better see some return on our investment. Doubts will rightly exist. If Mr. Musharraf will not take the necessary steps though, then it may force Washington's hand to deal with the FATA on its own. This last weekend the Bush administration suggested this. Our direct action would run the risk of further destabilizing Pakistan. That would be weighed against the risk of another large-scale attack on the homeland. Given the stakes, let's hope Mr. Musharraf's Red Mosque moment proves to be a milestone in a battle against militancy. Ed Royce, California Republican, is ranking member of the U.S. House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade Subcommittee.

Link

India-Pakistan

Five suspected Tajik militants arrested

2007-06-25

Security forces arrested on Sunday five suspected Tajik militants just after they crossed the border from Iran, officials said. The militants were caught after they crossed the border post into Balochistan, a security official added. The militants, holding Tajik passports, were carrying fake Afghan identity cards and literature showing their links to a radical group in Tajikistan, the official said, requesting anonymity. He gave no further details, saying intelligence agencies were interrogating them. Officials said the security forces had in the past few weeks arrested seven suspected foreign militants including three Germans, two Turkish nationals and two from Kyrghyzstan. In March, security agencies captured former Taliban defence minister Mullah Obaidullah Akhund at a hotel in Quetta. Akhund, who has a one-million-dollar US bounty on his head, was functioning as an insurgent commander in southern neighbouring Afghanistan, officials said.

Link

Afghanistan

3 Hostage Swap-ees Killed along with Dadullah

2007-05-16

Implanted microphone/transmitter/homing devices pay off? Here's hoping the other two swap-ees are visiting Mullah Omar. 3 Taliban released for Italian journalist killed with top commander KABUL, Afghanistan: Three Taliban who had been released from prison in exchange for a kidnapped Italian journalist were killed alongside the insurgency's top field commander over the weekend, the Afghan intelligence service said Wednesday. Mullah Dadullah, a one-legged militant who orchestrated a rash of Taliban suicide attacks and beheadings, died of gunshot wounds in a U.S.-led operation over the weekend in the southern province of Helmand. An official with Afghanistan's intelligence service identified the three others as Mullah Shah Mansoor — Dadullah's brother — Mullah Hamdullah and Commander Ghafar. They had been freed in March in a prisoner swap for the release of Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo. The prisoner swap was widely criticized in Afghanistan in part because two Afghans kidnapped with Mastrogiacomo were not freed as part of that deal and were executed by the Taliban. U.S.-led coalition forces, with assistance from NATO and Afghan forces, were able to track Dadullah to the village of Sarwan using "modern technology," said the official, reading an intelligence service statement. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the agency's policy. In Islamabad, Ronald Neumann, the former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, predicted the Taliban leadership would "regenerate" after Dadullah's death, but said the recent demise of several top figures in the insurgency could dissuade others from joining the fight. Neumann, who stepped down as ambassador last month, mentioned the killing of Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani — in an airstrike in southern Afghanistan in December — and the arrest of former Taliban defense minister, Mullah Obaidullah Akhund. Neumann's was the first official confirmation of reports from Pakistani intelligence that Akhund was nabbed in the Pakistani city of Quetta in February. He gave no further details, including who was holding Akhund, the highest-ranking Taliban militant to be captured alive since the fall of the Islamist regime in 2001. "For those Taliban leaders who have been out of the fight and are looking to get back into the fight, the fact that Osmani has been killed, Dadullah has been killed and Obaidullah has been arrested might say something to them about their life insurance policies," said Neumann, visiting Pakistan for talks on Afghanistan. In Kabul, Lt. Col. Maria Carl, spokeswoman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said Dadullah's killing would not have been possible without the help of Afghan civilians and security forces, whose intelligence helped track him down, but gave no details on the nature of the intelligence. NATO has said that Dadullah was killed after he moved into Afghanistan from his "sanctuary" — a reference to Pakistan, where many Taliban are thought to hide. Another ISAF spokesman, Maj. John Thomas, declined to say if Pakistan provided any intelligence that helped in the operation. Security officials in Pakistan have hinted that a bombing Tuesday that killed 25 people in a restaurant in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar may have been revenge for Dadullah's killing. They said a relative of Dadullah was arrested in the restaurant a few days earlier.

Link

India-Pakistan

Mullah Akhund is free: paper

2007-03-12

A Swiss newspaper claimed on Sunday that the Taliban’s former defence minister was free two days after his reported capture by Pakistani security forces. The Swiss weekly SonntagsBlick said one of its reporters spoke to Mullah Obaidullah Akhund on February 28 unhindered in an Islamic school in the southwestern city of Quetta. Akhund, considered a key ally of fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, was the most senior leader from the hard-line militia to be reported arrested since US-led troops ousted it from power in 2001. Several Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said earlier this month that he was among five Taliban suspects arrested on February 26 in a raid on a Quetta home. However, Pakistani government officials at that time did not confirm any arrest publicly, and one senior Interior Ministry official who handles counterterrorism issues denied a top Taliban figure was captured. Pakistani officials could not be reached for comment late on Sunday on the Swiss newspaper’s claim. The arrest purportedly took place the same day US Vice President Dick Cheney visited Pakistan, which has been under growing international pressure to crack down on Taliban militants. “The news is not true,” SonntagsBlick wrote. “The world press reported: top-Taliban imprisoned. At the same time he was sitting with a SonntagsBlick reporter having coffee.”

Link

India-Pakistan

No warrant for Obaidullah: Crocker

2007-03-08

Outgoing US Ambassador to Pakistan Ryan C Crocker has said that Washington has no warrant to demand the extradition of former Taliban defence minister Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, who was reportedly arrested from Quetta on February 26. “We have no (arrest) warrant against him,” the ambassador – who has been confirmed as the new envoy to Iraq – told Daily Times at a reception at US Consulate Principal Officer Lynne Tracy’s residence on Tuesday. Islamabad has not officially confirmed or denied media reports yet that Pakistani security forces have captured the deputy to the elusive Taliban chief Mullah Omar. Crocker also distanced himself from confirming the report, saying the arrest had not been notified officially yet, but both Pakistan and the US “are in contact” on a regular basis. “There is strong conviction among authorities that he has been arrested, and that is what we hear from sources,” he added. He said the arrested Taliban leader might be tried in a country where he had committed crimes – indicating that Obaidullah could be extradited to Afghanistan.

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More