Getting caught playing Call of Duty

Tallon

Taliban second-in-command captured in Karachi

The arrest of the Baradar, the Taliban's number two commander, is likely to have a significant influence on the insurgency in Afghanistan. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Mullah Barader, the Taliban's powerful second in command, has been captured in the Pakistani city of Karachi, senior US officials have confirmed.

The detention of Abdul Ghani Barader, the Taliban's overall number two, is the most significant breakthrough in many years of the American-led hunt for the Taliban's leaders and comes as Nato forces continued to advance into Taliban-held areas in the violent southern Afghan province of Helmand.

Mullah Barader was seized in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American government officials quoted by the New York Times.

Mullah Barader has been in Pakistani custody for several days, with American and Pakistani intelligence officials both taking part in interrogations, according to the officials. Though President Barack Obama has banned American agencies from using forms of torture such as water-boarding, Pakistani questioning techniques are frequently brutal.

US officials later confirmed the report of his capture to the Associated Press.

Mullah Barader, believed to have been born in the central Afghan province of Oruzgan, is the most trusted lieutenant of Mullah Mohammed Omar, the supreme leader of the Taliban, and has been ultimately responsible for the execution of the insurgents' military and political strategy since being appointed to the position in 2002.

The effective chairman of the so-called Quetta Shura, the leadership council of the Taliban which is named after the south-western Pakistani city near or in which it is thought to be based, Mullah Barader is also known to be close to Osama bin Laden.

That his capture appears to have occurred in Karachi underlines the degree to which senior Afghan militants have used Pakistan as a secure base for their operations, but may also signal a very significant change in attitude on the part of the Pakistani Army towards the hardline Afghan Islamic militant movement.

The Pakistani security establishment's ambivalent attitude towards the Taliban has been repeatedly cited as a major cause of the problems that have beset the western intervention in Afghanistan since then deposition of the Taliban regime in December 2001.

Mullah Barader, reported to be aged between 41 and 48, may have been forced to flee more secure hiding places alongside the Afghan-Pakistani frontier by the repeated and increasingly effective strikes by unmanned drones. Karachi, a seething metropolis of 14 million, was where key 9-11 conspirator Ramzi bin al'Shibh was seized in September 2002.

The New York Times said it had learned of his capture on Thursday, but delayed reporting it at the request of White House officials, who told the newspaper that making it public would end a hugely successful intelligence-gathering effort. According to the New York Times said the officials said that the group's leaders had been unaware of Mullah Baradar's capture and that if it became public they might cover their tracks and become more careful about communicating with each other.

Jumpy

They forgot to take down the UAV.

Penn

They should have hid in the bus. Everyone forgets to check the bus

Jumpy

paddyirishman85 wrote: »

They should have hid in the bus. Everyone forgets to check the bus

Or on the wing of the crashed plane.

Tallon

Jumpy wrote: »

Or on the wing of the crashed plane.

Where?

Jumpy

In Afghan. You can crawl up the wing of the plane.

Tallon

Jumpy wrote: »

In Afghan. You can crawl up the wing of the plane.

Jumpy

Hey, I play Hardcore, I have lost count of the times I forget to check there.

Not everyone relies on the Killcam you know.

Tallon

Jumpy wrote: »

Hey, I play Hardcore, I have lost count of the times I forget to check there.

Not everyone relies on the Killcam you know.

lol, I meant because its not afghan, its Karachi

Jumpy

Its still the same game

Tallon

Jumpy wrote: »

Which is in ... ?

Pakistan !

Jumpy

Pixels.

Jumpy

Oi, I edited that so you wouldnt read it wrong, you got caught by my ninja edit and re-edited.

You cant re-edit a ninja edited quote, its against the rules. :P

Tallon

Jumpy wrote: »

You cant re-edit a ninja edited quote, its against the rules. :P

My heartbeat sensor says I can