Apparently Vice President Cheney's threat to cut off the baksheesh to Pakistan and President Musharraf was taken seriously as it resulted in a major Taliban figure's arrest in Pakistan.
Mullah Obaidullah Akhund was picked up by Pakistan's ISI just as VP Cheney landed en route to his heart to heart with Musharraf in Islamabad. He was the former defense minister in the Taliban government in Kabul and is probably the number 3 in the movement. Obviously,the ISI has known exactly where to find him for quite some time, and this was intended as a deal point for Musharraf to defend Pakistan's `ally credentials' and keep the US aid dollars flowing when he met with Cheney.
Of course, that's not how the ISI is playing it. "It's pure coincidence and our good luck that we found Mullah Obaidullah within 24 hours of Cheney's visit,'" said an unnamed ISI official.
Interestingly, Akhund was picked up in the southern Pakistani city of Quetta, where our intel believe much of the Taliban leadership resides, though Pakistan denies it.
Pakistan has come under a great deal of heat recently from the US and the Afghan government for providing what essentially amounts to a sanctuary for the Taliban and al Qaeda.
We'll see if this was just another happy coincidence, or the start of a major crackdown against al Qaeda and the Taliban.
This is off-topic, but on the radio show, were you that Joe Gellman guy? I'm a little confused because it says he's from the NeoCon Express, which is manifestly a different blog than this. I'd appreciate if you could clear this up.
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding? You will not get another arrest till the nxet Pakistan visit by a top US official.
ReplyDeleteHi Y'all!
ReplyDeleteNazar, I think you listened at the wrong hour! I'll post a link onsite in which you can hear what I had to say on the `Gathering Storm'.
Or you can go to the link in my article with the radio mic in which I posted the date and time and find a link to an MP3 of my show.
Hi Sachin , of course you're correct. Pakistan is a terrorist enabler who we are bribing to keep them from going entirely over to the other side.