A Pakistan embassy spokesman has refuted the claim that the Taliban have a “command and control structure operating on Pakistan territory, in and around the city of Quetta”. In a letter to Baltimore Sun, embassy press minister M Akram Shaheedi writes: “This is not true because Mulla Muhammed Omar and his Taliban commanders are in Kandahar, their home district and the base of the Taliban. They command considerable support from the local population there. They could not hide in Quetta because Pakistan’s intelligence and security network is very effective. The presence of the Taliban leadership could not go unnoticed there. It should also be mentioned here that a UN Security Council report released in August clearly states that the centre of gravity of the Taliban movement is in Afghanistan. According to the United Nations: ‘The insurgency is being conducted mostly by Afghans operating inside Afghanistan’s borders.’”