With a spree of success in arresting three high value Taliban leaders, Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence, ISI, seems to be winning hearts and minds of American media and analysts.
“Pakistan’s military leadership has turned around and now we can see the sincerity in their action,” said a terrorism expert on MSNBC this morning.
Scot Joel, another terrorism expert on ABC Thursday morning claimed, “ISI has changed their attitude towards Quetta Shura and it is indeed a very welcome move.”
New York Times Thursday quoted a NATO commander in Afghanistan saying: “I believe that General Kayani and his leaders have come to the conclusion that they want us to succeed.”
Over all mood of American media seems to turning positive towards Pakistan with many commentators appreciating and acknowledging the leadership of Pakistani military and intelligence agencies, led by General Ashfaq Kayani and Lt. General Ahmed Shuja Pasha.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday told BBC that the Pakistani leadership “recognises that standing firm against the threat is important to the country’s future”.
In an interview to BBC in Saudi Arabia she said: “I would underscore, that the cooperation is increasing, and it is very valuable.” She further added: “I can express our appreciation for the increasing cooperation between the United States and Pakistan.”
Examiner reported Thursday that information provided by the recently captured Taliban second in command, Abdul Ghani Barader had led to the arrest of two additional senior Taliban leaders inside Pakistan.
Mullah Abdul Salam and Mullah Mohammed both self-proclaimed governors of two key provinces in Afghanistan were arrested by Pakistan Inter Services Intelligence, Pakistani officials have confirmed.
“These were two separate raids conducted chiefly by the ISI,” said an Intelligence source in Pakistan’s capital. He insisted that Americans may have had only ancillary role in the latest bout of success against the Taliban. “We are getting good- actionable intelligence from him,” he said referring to Barader.
Mullah Abdul Salam ran the Taliban’s shadow government in the province of Kunduz and Mullah Mohammed ran their operation inthe Afghan province of Baghlan.
Kunduz and Baghlan provinces had fallen to the Taliban but Obama administration’s re-engagement in Afghanistan seems to be yielding result. Both of these leaders had sneaked into Pakistan recently, reports suggest.
ISI, our sources claim, is on a major mission to capture the Taliban leaders that have snuck in since 2001. “Arrest of Baradar and these two governors are clear indication that ISI has turned on the heat,” said a security analyst.
Quoting American officials, New York Times reported Thursday that the Taliban’s second in command Baradar was providing a wealth of information on the Taliban’s operations. “For the past several days, he has been interrogated by both Pakistani and American officials,” report said.








