Richard Tafoya
Sep 24th, 2006, 04:03 PM
The Age (Australia):
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/taliban-chief-key-to-deal-in-pakistan/2006/09/24/1159036415017.html
A fugitive Taliban commander has emerged as the key player behind the movement's controversial peace deal with Pakistan.
Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban's one-eyed spiritual leader, who has a $US10 million ($A13 million) price on his head for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks, signed a letter explicitly endorsing the truce announced this month.
The deal between Pakistani authorities and pro-Taliban militants in the tribal provinces bordering Afghanistan was designed to end five years of bloodshed.
In return for an end to the US-backed government campaign in Waziristan, the tribal leaders — who have harboured Taliban and al-Qaeda units for more than five years — agreed to end attacks on Pakistani troops, more than 500 of whom have been killed.
...
The disclosure that Mullah Omar personally backed the deal will come as a fresh embarrassment to Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, who met President George Bush in Washington on Friday to discuss security in the region.
...
Mullah Dadullah, a one-legged fighter known for a fondness for beheading his enemies, is believed to be the man leading the campaign in southern Afghanistan.
"Had they been not asked by Mullah Omar, none of them were willing to sign an agreement," said Lateef Afridi, a tribal elder and former national assembly member. "This is no peace agreement. It is accepting Taliban rule in Pakistan's territory."
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/taliban-chief-key-to-deal-in-pakistan/2006/09/24/1159036415017.html
A fugitive Taliban commander has emerged as the key player behind the movement's controversial peace deal with Pakistan.
Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban's one-eyed spiritual leader, who has a $US10 million ($A13 million) price on his head for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks, signed a letter explicitly endorsing the truce announced this month.
The deal between Pakistani authorities and pro-Taliban militants in the tribal provinces bordering Afghanistan was designed to end five years of bloodshed.
In return for an end to the US-backed government campaign in Waziristan, the tribal leaders — who have harboured Taliban and al-Qaeda units for more than five years — agreed to end attacks on Pakistani troops, more than 500 of whom have been killed.
...
The disclosure that Mullah Omar personally backed the deal will come as a fresh embarrassment to Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, who met President George Bush in Washington on Friday to discuss security in the region.
...
Mullah Dadullah, a one-legged fighter known for a fondness for beheading his enemies, is believed to be the man leading the campaign in southern Afghanistan.
"Had they been not asked by Mullah Omar, none of them were willing to sign an agreement," said Lateef Afridi, a tribal elder and former national assembly member. "This is no peace agreement. It is accepting Taliban rule in Pakistan's territory."