Plain clothed police move a Pakistan Taliban commander on Feb 17. Photo: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters

Don’t look now, but half of the Afghan Taliban leadership has been caught in Pakistan. In the last week alone. This comes almost a year after members of the Obama administration were floating ideas about negotiation with the Taliban and a possible power-sharing according with the Karzai government.

On the heels of capturing the number one military commander of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, second only to Supreme Commander Mullah Omar, his replacement, Mullah Abdul Qayoum Zakir, has been captured as well.

In total, seven of the Taliban’s top 15-member leadership council has been captured in Pakistan, all in the span of one week, say the Pakistani ISI. Whether or not these arrests were secured by “enhanced interrogation techniques” of Mullah Baradar, the happy news is that the Taliban have been seriously weakened by this.

As well as the above mentioned who were captured, Pakistan now has Maulavi Abdul Kabir, a prominent commander in charge of insurgent operations in eastern Afghanistan, Mullah Muhammad Younis, Mullah Muhammad Hassan, Mullah Ahmed Jan Akhunzada, and Mullah Abdul Raouf. Taliban “shadow” governors have also been put behind bars.

The moves have come as a bit of a surprise, since the Pakistani ISI was at one time believed to be shielding the Afghan Taliban leadership from capture. But as the insurgency in Afghanistan spread to Pakistan, the government has had to take action to reaffirm control.

While the Canadian media continues to miss the point, with pointless blathering articles about three-year-old allegations of torture, NATO continues to make gains against the Taliban with recent pushes into territory controlled by the “shadow government.”

Although Canada’s commitment in Afghanistan ends in 2011, a number of Canadians have turned their attention toward supporting the mission beyond that exit date. The Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee [CASC] will unveil its vision for Canada’s Role in Afghanistan on March 9 at the National Archives Hall in Ottawa. The event, called “Canada and Afghanistan: Keeping Our Promises”, is hosted by the Free Thinking Film Society of Ottawa and is also a fundraiser for the Afghan School Project.

Attending the event will be retired Major-General Lewis Mackenzie, Ehsanullah Ehsan, Director of the Afghan-Canadian Community Centre in Kandahar City, Lauryn Oates, Human rights and gender equity activist, Terry Glavin, co-founder of CASC, among others. Terry Glavin is currently visiting Afghanistan, and has written numerous reports in Canadian media, warning the west not to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban. His latest interview with former Afghan President Berhanuddin Rabbani explains why a power-sharing deal with the Taliban could send the country into civil war.

Related

Via the Torch, only Canada has contributed more than Denmark in soldier sacrifice to win this war. And yet, somehow, they have retained a better support for the mission than Canada.

“They have reaped the benefits of a largely supportive media and the country has, to some degree, rediscovered its pride in an active military.”

Also see the Denver Post’s Blog on the Marjah offensive.

The top military commander for the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, has been captured in Karachi, Pakistan, by joint Pakistani and U.S. forces. While I would be hesitant to compare him to the capture of Adolf Hitler’s second in command, Rudolf Hess, this is the most high profile terrorist to be captured since the Taliban were overthrown in 2001. He ranks second only to Mullah Muhammad Omar, believed to be still at large in Pakistan.

What’s even more significant is that Baradar is held by Pakistan, which means that if he’s roughed up a bit or sleep-deprived in securing vital intelligence, the western media will have a difficult time blaming it on the U.S.

This a huge blow to the Taliban, since Baradar was in command of insurgent forces in Afghanistan, directly responsible for attacks on Canadian soldiers. When Taliban tactical commander Mullah Dadullah was killed in 2007, or Akhtar Osmani, the Taliban treasurer, killed in 2006, neither could be taken alive in order to provide information. Baradar would know more about the operations of the Taliban insurgency than any other person in the Afghan war.

What’s also significant to note is that this marks a decided shift in cooperation between American and Pakistani intelligence services, since it had heretofore been unknown whether Pakistan was really trying hard enough to contain the insurgency. Indeed, it had been alleged in some circles that the Pakistani ISI was actually helping senior Taliban leaders escape detection.

How the Taliban responds to the capture will depend largely upon how it is able to handle the current military offensive in southern Afghanistan. It is believed that Baradar may even try to broker a peace accord, but right now such talk is purely speculative.

Operation Mushtarak ["Together" in Dari Persian] was launched on Saturday in a joint effort between the strengthening Afghan National army and NATO forces, and so far their movements have proven successful. Allied forces have been clearing Marja, a drug-producing town in southern Helmand that has provided income for the Taliban. Cutting this supply line is seen as a part of the strategy to weaken the insurgency.

15,000 troops have poured into the area, meeting little resistance but, as always, looking out for deadly IED’s. British forces have been tasked with taking Nad Ali, a neighbouring town. It has been a bit of a cat and mouse game, since Marja was cleared only last May, but the Taliban returned after NATO left.

Terry Glavin, a Canadian journalist and freelance writer, is currently in Kandahar, and interviewed Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan’s main opposition leader.

Mr.Abdullah echoed recent warnings not to broker any backroom peace deal with the Taliban, since it would undermine the popular support of the people for the fledgling democracy. Furthermore, the idea of bribing the Taliban to lay down their weapons is frought with peril.
“The Taliban are fighting the people and killing the people and committing those atrocities, and now they are being bribed.” Mr.Abdullah told Terry Glavin.

“The government is shifting the whole focus to how we should bring the Taliban back. This is very dangerous.

“The Taliban will not be willing to come in with the hypothetical situations of giving them ministries and governors and so on. They don’t want to be part of the political process. They want to destroy it and replace it with their own.”

We’ve got to stick to the plan, and keep pushing the Taliban until it breaks. “Clear, hold, and build” is the new mantra for NATO. Clear the insurgents out of their viper nests, hold those won positions, and build a strong Afghanistan with security and infrastructure and economic growth. It is the only way forward.