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| Afghanistan |
| Dadullah's death linked to closer Pak-Afghan cooperation |
| 2007-05-15 |
| Though anti-jihadist operations will continue, negotiations geared toward further weakening those loyal to Mullah Omar and strengthening pragmatic leaders within the movement will become increasingly important in the months ahead, says a commentary on Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah’s death. The Texas-based news intelligence service Stratfor calls Dadullah’s killing the first major success for Kabul and NATO against the Pashtoon jihadists since the recent resurgence of the Taliban. Until now, fighters and low- to mid-level leaders had been killed; this is the first time a major Taliban figure has been eliminated. He is known to have been a member of the 10-man Taliban leadership council. Startfor speculates, “Given the close ties between the Taliban and the Pakistani state and society, it is highly likely that Islamabad is the source of the intelligence on Dadullah. It should be noted that after several years of tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, with Kabul claiming that Islamabad was backing the Taliban, the Pakistanis with the Afghans against the Taliban. This was relayed by President Gen Pervez Musharraf to Afghan President Hamid Karzai at an April 30 meeting in Turkey, during which they agreed to share intelligence on militant groups.” The commentary notes that although the Musharraf government’s decision to work with Kabul on containing the Taliban is fuelled by its , Dadullah’s death has certain implications for the domestic situation in Afghanistan. Though the insurgency will continue, it has been dealt a significant blow – and the pace of the has likely been dampened. More important, the vacuum created by Dadullah’s death could trigger infighting between hard-liners linked to Al Qaeda and more pragmatic elements. Stratfor believes that the Taliban will be worried about how their organisational security net was penetrated and will be suspicious of many within their own ranks, which could lead to internal strife. Already those close to Omar and Al Qaeda are concerned about the more pragmatic elements talking to the Karzai administration. There are signs that such elements, knowing Kabul would not strike a deal with them unless they parted ways with Omar and his allies, might have actually helped in the elimination of Dadullah. Many within the movement actually did not approve of Dadullah’s harsh policies. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 "it has been dealt a significant blow " Nothing as significant as having the one-eyed mullah on the slab. |
| Posted by: Duh! 2007-05-15 05:58 |
| #2 So, he's Deadullah, isn't he? |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-05-15 02:24 |
| #1 FREEREPUBLIC > AL-QAEDA URGES "NON-WHITES" TO JOIN JIHAD AGZ USA, WEST. Move along, boyz, clearly no war for the world here. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-05-15 01:03 |