|
Islamabad: Pakistan's security forces made a rare arrest of a senior Afghan Taliban commander near the southwestern city of Quetta on Saturday, Pakistani security officials and coalition forces in Afghanistan have said.
A statement which was issued by British forces in Afghanistan late on Tuesday said Mullah Rahim, operational commander of Taliban forces in Helmand, had surrendered to "authorities in Pakistan."
Western officials in the past have suspected the Pakistani security services of turning a blind eye to the presence of Taliban leaders in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan.
Signs of change
Recent unpublicised arrests in Quetta, however, raised hopes of a sea-change in Pakistan, a senior Western official said.
"We've seen signs of change ... yes, and arrests," said an official in Islamabad earlier this week.
Pakistan had still to confirm Rahim's capture, but Pakistani security officials, who had requested anonymity, said on Monday that a suspect believed to have been the Taliban commander in Helmand, had been caught over the weekend.
They said the man had been caught during a raid on a house in Kharotabad area of Quetta.
"We conducted a raid three days ago based on very credible information that some important Taliban figures were hiding with an Afghan family there," a senior intelligence official said.
Western allies suffering mounting casualties in Afghanistan have put Pakistan under pressure to act against Taliban taking sanctuary on its territory.
|
