Taliban leader’s arrest raises hopes for Pakistani cooperation

February 17, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The capture of the Afghan Taliban’s No. 2 commander by a joint CIA and Pakistani team dealt a fresh blow to insurgents under heavy U.S. attack and raised hopes that Pakistani security forces are ready to deny Afghan militant leaders a safe haven.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar’s arrest in the Pakistani port city of Karachi also may push other insurgent leaders thought to be sheltering on this side of the border toward talks with the Afghan government — a development increasingly seen as key to ending the eight-year war.

Baradar, in his late 40s, was the second in command behind Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar and was said to be in charge of the day-to-day running of the organization’s leadership council, which is believed based in Pakistan. He was a founding member of the Taliban and is the most important figure of the hard-line Islamist movement to be arrested in the war.

Baradar, who also functioned as the link between Mullah Omar and field commanders, has been in detention for more than 10 days and was talking to interrogators, two Pakistani intelligence officials said Tuesday. One said several other suspects also were captured in the raid. He said Baradar had provided “useful information” to them and that Pakistan had shared it with their U.S. counterparts. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

The White House declined to confirm Baradar’s capture. Spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters the fight against extremists involves sensitive intelligence matters and he believes it’s best to collect that information without talking about it.

President Barack Obama’s administration has vowed to kill or seize Taliban and al-Qaida leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The arrest comes as relentless CIA missile strikes against militant targets in the border tribal region have killed several commanders.

Obama has ordered 30,000 extra troops to southern Afghanistan. On Saturday, thousands of them began a major attack on the town of Marjah in the southern province of Helmand, one of the regions that Baradar is believed to control.

Former members of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and security experts said the arrest would hurt the Taliban but was far from a decisive blow.

Nevertheless, the capture is likely to cause short-term disruption.