US-Pakistan split emerges on whereabouts of Taliban leaders (Feature)

By Sajjad Malik Oct 2, 2009, 14:05 GMT

   Islamabad - Mutual trust between Islamabad and Washington has sunk further amid US complaints about Pakistan's inaction against the Afghan Taliban leadership, which it said has sanctuaries in a south-western city bordering Afghanistan, a claim Pakistan has rejected.

   Speaking with reporters Friday in Islamabad, a senior US official raised the issue of the alleged presence of the Taliban's top leader, Mullah Omar, and his close aides in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's Balochistan province, parts of which border the southern Afghan province of Kandahar.

   Gerald Feierstein, the US deputy chief of mission in Islamabad, claimed the Taliban leadership is heading the Afghan insurgency through a 'Quetta shura,' a quasi-cabinet and council of the Taliban.

   He said Taliban leaders enjoyed virtual 'immunity' and move freely across the border and in some other major cities of Pakistan, including its port city of Karachi, the country's financial hub, which has in recent years turned into a hotbed for the Taliban.

   'We are confident that Mullah Omer is in Quetta,' Feierstein said. 'We do believe that these people move around, but their locus of operation is Quetta.'

   US concerns about the Quetta shura have risen as its casualties have considerably increased in Afghanistan. With three months still to go, 2009 has already become the deadliest year for international forces in Afghanistan since the 2001 fall of the Taliban regime with 382 deaths.

   Pakistani support is considered vital to strangling the emboldened Taliban, who crisscross the porous border at its will, allegedly due to the tacit support of Pakistani border guards.

   The United States has refrained from blaming Pakistan and its agencies publicly for tolerating the Taliban within its border and turning a blind eye toward its cross-border activities. However, the US official maintained that 'individuals' in Pakistan are sympathetic toward the militants.

   'I think we did not say that they are being facilitated by the Pakistani government and its agencies, but there has been individuals who have been involved and sympathized with the Taliban,' Feierstein said.

   He said Washington has asked Islamabad for cooperation to capture the Taliban leaders operating within its borders.

   Pakistan, however, refuted the US claims as 'baseless accusations' and demanded actionable evidence.

   'If the US has any information about the presence of the Taliban, it should share the intelligence with us,' said Abdul Basit, a spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Ministry.

   Analysts said the United States has few options to deal with the Quetta shura because any military ground action might expand the Islamic militancy in Balochistan, which has been relatively free of it over the last decade.

   Among the other options are airstrikes by unmanned drone aircraft, which have hit the Taliban hard in Pakistan's north-western tribal region over the past year.

   The Sunday Times this week reported that the US might launch airstrikes on Mullah Omar and other Taliban leaders hiding in Quetta and on its outskirts.

   Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik rejected reports about the presence of Omar inside Pakistan and said instead that the Taliban leaders were in Kandahar.

   'We have repeatedly said that the Quetta shura does not exist and if someone has any evidence to contend this, he should come forward,' he said.

   The strains over the Quetta shura emerged as the US Congress approved an aid bill to resurrect Pakistan's economy, which has faltered because of rising terrorism and the Islamic insurgency.

   The legislation pledged 1.5 billion dollars in annual assistance for the next five years for development.

   The administration had also promised nearly 1 billion dollars in military and security assistance for the next year and 500 million dollars as part of pledges made at the so-called Friends of Democratic Pakistan conference in Tokyo in June.

   The US is eager to help Pakistan, but it was unclear whether the billions of dollars of annual assistance would help it buy Pakistani trust and loyalty in the fight on terrorism and persuade the country to take on the Quetta shura.