Mystery Surrounds the Arrest of Taliban Leader

Several days ago US and Pakistani agents arrested Mullah Abdul Ghani Brader, a key Taliban leader believed to be real close to Mullah Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban. His arrest appears to be a real coup for the US and its typically rocky collaboration with the Pakistani government. The Pakistani government, especially its main intelligence agency, the ISI have been real close to the Afghan Taliban and is believed to be protecting them, believing that if the US leaves Afghanistan, the Taliban will take over and the Pakistani's will regain its lost influence in the country. It was the ISI who propelled them to power back in 1996.

According to Al Jazeera, the former head of the ISI and a known Taliban sympathizer, Hamid Gul, says the arrest made by joint intelligence agencies was "unusual." The same article also suggests a theory that Brader had a falling out with other Taliban leaders. It is rumored that he was supportive of talking to the Afghan government and that he even attended secret peace talks with the Afghan government backed by the UN, and that Taliban hardliners gave him up.

From more than one article it could be concluded that Mullah Brader might have played a major role in the talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. It might have been the fact the US was playing an instrumental role in these negotiations leaving the Pakistani government out in the cold. The Pakistanis believed that they have the key negotiating cards with the Taliban; Mulla Brader might have proved them wrong. According to the New York Times, Pakistani intelligence were upset that the US was in touch with Mullah Brader's people. By supporting the CIA's capture of him, the ISI might have closed an important channel in negotiating with the Taliban. Again as previously mentioned, Pakistan's interest in Afghanistan is for the Taliban to regain power any real peace talks would have to go through Islamabad.

The US government denied that Brader was involved with any talks. They also said that the Pakistani government has increased its cooperation tracking down al Qaeda and the Taliban. -Dawn We shall see in the next few months what the results would be of this capure. Two things might happen, (A) if the capture is useful we have an increase in success with the war against the Taliban. (B)If negotiations with the Taliban fails, then we may know why.