Half of Taliban leadership now under arrest in Pakistan

Christian Science Monitor:

Pakistan has arrested nearly half of the Afghanistan Taliban’s leadership in recent days, Pakistani officials told the Monitor Wednesday, dealing what could be a crucial blow to the insurgent movement.

In total, seven of the insurgent group’s 15-member leadership council, thought to be based in Quetta, Pakistan, including the head of military operations, have been apprehended in the past week, according to Pakistani intelligence officials.

Western and Pakistani media had previously reported the arrest of three of the 15, but this is the first confirmation of the wider scale of the Pakistan crackdown on the Taliban leadership, something the US has sought.

“This really hurts the Taliban in the short run,” says Wahid Muzjda, a former Taliban official turned political analyst, based in Kabul. Whether it will have an effect in the long run will depend on what kind of new leaders take the reins, he says.

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Pakistan has offered to turn these leaders over to Afghanistan. This maybe a way to put them in a situation where the US can further interrogate them. If we can develop actionable intelligence on a timely basis from this group it could give us teh the chance to roll up much of their organization in Afghanistan.