'Sheltered in Karachi', Newsweek, 28 November 2009
EXCERPT: "President Obama's new strategy for turning the tide of the war includes sending thousands of additional troops to fight the insurgency. But senior Taliban officials tell NEWSWEEK they are confident that their guerrilla presence on the ground is now so well entrenched and widespread in southern, eastern, western, and even northern Afghanistan that increased U.S. troop numbers will not pose a serious threat. What they're more concerned about is the vulnerability of top Taliban leaders, including Mullah Mohammed Omar, whom the U.S. has targeted with Predator drones and Special Operations Forces just across the border inside Pakistan. As a result, there's been a steady migration of senior Taliban officials from Baluchistan and other areas to Pakistan's crowded and sprawling port city of Karachi where, well out of America's reach, they can operate more freely. Indeed, there may be more senior Taliban operating out of Karachi these days than Baluchistan's provincial capital, Quetta, according to one of the sources, a senior Taliban operative named Zabihullah who, like many Afghans, goes by one name, and who has proved a reliable source in the past."
Read the full story.
Related articles:
"Blackwater launching missions from Karachi", Daily Times, 26 November 2009
US newspaper claims Mullah Omar is in Karachi, The News International, 20 November 2009
Fear of Taliban influx looms in Karachi, DAWN, 17 May 2009
Taliban may take over Karachi: Police report, The Times of India, 1 March 2009
Taliban could activate in Karachi on Baitullah orders, The Nation, 6 August 2008
Related reports:
Taliban target Karachi and Peshawar links in NATO’s Afghanistan supply-chain, The Jamestown Foundation // Terrorism Focus, 21 January 2009
Related posts:
Afghan Taliban chief hides in Pakistan, 20 November 2009
The Taliban Quetta shura: Fact or fiction?, 18 November 2009
