Top Haqqani commander captured in Afghanistan

NATO-led forces captured Haji Mali Khan, a senior commander for the Haqqani network in Afghanistan, during an operation in eastern Paktia province earlier in the week, according to the military coalition.

In a statement issued on Saturday by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Khan was described as “one of the highest ranking members of the Haqqani network and a revered elder of the Haqqani clan”.

The Taliban-linked Haqqani network, which attacked  the US embassy in Kabul earlier this month, is based on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

Admiral Mike Mullen, the US joint chiefs of staff, recently accused the group of being a “veritable arm” of  Pakistan’s military intelligence agency- a charge that Islamabad denies.

NATO said Khan had managed bases and operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and moved forces across the border for attacks, as well as transferring funds and sourcing supplies.

Khan was captured on Tuesday in Jani Khel district of Paktia province along with his deputy and bodyguard, in an operation by Afghan and foreign forces, NATO said.

He was heavily armed but “submitted … without incident or resistance,” the NATO statement said. It did not detail how the NATO forces had identified Khan.

Peace talks

Meanwhile, Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan, said that he was rethinking the peace process following three years of failed talks with the Taliban.

In a statement on Saturday, Karzai alluded to shifting his government’s peace-negotiating strategy from dealing directly with the Taliban to holding talks with Pakistan.

“I do not have any other answer except to say the other side of the peace talks must be Pakistan, because I cannot find Mullah Mohammed Omar, I cannot find the Taliban Shura, a messenger came from them and killed and there is no reaction from them,” said Karzai. “Who else is there to talk to except Pakistan?”

A year ago, Karzai established a peace council and appointed Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former president, to lead talks with the Taliban.

Rabbani was killed two weeks ago by a suicide bomber posing as a messenger from the Taliban.

‘Peace with whom?’

At a meeting with Afghanistan’s political elite on Friday, leaders discussed the future of peace talks with the Taliban, questioning whether the group was able to seek a political settlement, and blamed Pakistan for fomenting instability.

The meeting included legislative chairmen, cabinet ministers, former mujahideen commanders and Karzai’s two vice-presidents, a statement from the presidential palace said.

The assembled Afghan elite took a swipe at neighbouring Pakistan, according to the statement, saying it was clear the Taliban leadership was not independent enough to make its own decisions about how it conducted the war, and suggested talks with Islamabad instead.

“During our three-year efforts for peace, the Taliban has martyred our religious ulema [leaders], tribal elders, women, children, old and young,” Karzai’s office quoted the assembled “mujahideen leaders, national figures and politicians” as saying.

“By killing Rabbani, they showed they are not able to take decisions. Now, the question is [should we seek] peace with who, with which people?”

Mullah Abdul Salem Zaeef, the Taliban’s former ambassador to Pakistan, said he did not believe that the strategy would work.

“Pakistan is not able to resolve their problem,” he said. “How are the Pakistanis able to solve the problem of Afghanistan?”

Implicating Pakistan

Afghanistan’s intelligence agency said on Saturday that it had handed Pakistan evidence that the Taliban’s leadership plotted Rabbani’s assassination on Pakistani soil.

The National Directorate of Security (NDS) said that the killing was planned in an upmarket suburb of the Pakistani city of Quetta.

The Taliban leadership council is known as the Quetta Shura, and is believed to be based in that city, although the group says it operates only from Afghanistan. Pakistan denies the existence of any Taliban shura in Quetta.

“A confession from those we detained in regard to Rabbani’s assassination shows a direct involvement of the Quetta Shura,” NDS spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said, adding that one of those arrested was a key player in the plot to kill Rabbani.

“[He] provided evidence and documents which we have submitted to the Pakistan Embassy. Based on mutual co-operation and diplomatic ties with Afghanistan, Pakistan is obliged to take action,” he told a news conference in the Afghan capital.

He said a commission had been set up to investigate the killing, and further details would be given soon.