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Mullah Omar, aides hiding in Pakistan says Gen Allen

Poreg View: That Mullah Omar, the one-eyed supremo of Taliban has been hiding along with his trusted aides near Quetta is, simply put, old hat. He and his advisor group have come to be identified as Quetta Shura. How they moved to Quetta suburbs and who helped them in the enterprise in the hours before Kabul was taken over by the US backed Northern Alliance warlords is not relevant any longer. The fact of the matter is the Taliban Mullah has been safely holed in a hideout by the Pakistani establishment.

From what has been said and reported over the past several years, the United States of America cannot be oblivious to his presence in the lawless Balochistan province which borders Iran on its way to become a nuclear power in its own right. At least, CIA was and is aware of Quetta saga.

Yet, there is significance to the US acknowledgement of the Mullah’s presence in Pakistan. It has come from no less a person than the top American general based in Afghanistan, whose troops are keen to withdraw from the land locked country provided Pakistan plays a  proper, indeed effective role as a  honest peace broker. As of now that possibility looks remote unless Washington concedes veto power to Islamabad on the Kabul theatre. This has upset the US calculations. And it comes clearly in Gen Allen’s remarks.

“Omar lives in Pakistan, as do many of his commanders. From that safe vantage point, they’ve sent hundreds of young, impressionable, largely spiritual and helpless youths to their deaths and detention in Afghanistan. For this, they must forfeit their honour and any claim to Islamic virtue”, the general who commands the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, wrote in an article in The Washington Post.

This is a direct repudiation of what Pakistan has been claiming on record right from the days of Gen Pervez Musharraf, who as army chief and chief executive of the country perfected the art of sailing in two boats simultaneously to save his country from being bombed to stone age after Taliban and al Qaeda did the 9/11 in New York.

Gen Allen’s article touched upon the Taliban’s claim of infiltration of Afghan security forces for attacking the US led forces and the increase in such attacks. “The focus on ‘green-on-blue’ attacks obscures the callous slaughter of Afghan civilians by insurgents led by Mohammad Omar. He has the blood of innocents on his hands even though he hypocritically tells his subordinates not to attack civilians,” Allen wrote.  

The General claims that Omar is losing ground. He has not backed up the claim and media reports from Kabul also don’t go beyond the background briefing on real time picture. Also, it is possible that the US commander was trying to send a message of reassurance to his home audience to the great relief of his Supreme Commander. Nonetheless, his critique of Mullah Omar as of now is interesting.

“His (Mullah Omar’s) forces have largely been ejected from most of the relevant population areas, and from among the most relevant terrain in Afghanistan. Omar is losing financial support from donors, who are sending their money elsewhere, and from reduced drug profits, thanks to Afghan and coalition efforts to stamp out the poppy harvest,” Allen said.  

He has patted the Afghan forces for their job in checkmating the Taliban. “Finally, Afghan security forces are increasing in number and quality every day. The area controlled by allied and Afghan forces reaches into Taliban support zones that had long been inaccessible”.

If Gen Allen’s article has appeared at a time when Washington is keen on early action to neutralize the Haqqani network in North Waziristan and hold talks with the Taliban. For both enterprises, the key to success is in the GHQ, Rawalpindi.  

The US is in the habit of finger pointing at Pakistan whenever it puts in place a strategy of arm-twisting Islamabad to do its bidding. Always the strategy paid dividends. It is to be seen what dividend the Allen Speak will offer.

-mrama rao

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