New York, Aug 04: Taliban's reclusive leader Mullah
Mohammad Omar is believed by Afghan and Western officials to
be running the militant organisation from his base near
Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province in Pakistan.
Mullah Omar runs a shadow government, complete with
military, religious and cultural councils, and has appointed
officials and commanders to virtually every Afghan province
and district, just as he did when he ruled Afghanistan, the
Taliban claim, the New York Times reported today.
He oversees his movement through a grand council of 10
members, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed told the Times in
a telephone interview.
Mullah Bradar, one of the Taliban's most senior and
ruthless commanders, who has been cited by human rights groups
for committing massacres, serves as his first deputy.
He passes down Mullah Omar's commands and makes all
military decisions, including how foreign fighters are
deployed, the paper said, citing Waheed Muzhta, a former
Taliban Foreign Ministry official who lives in Kabul and
follows the progress of the Taliban through his own research.
The Taliban even produce their own magazine, Al Somood,
published online in Arabic, where details of their leadership
structure can be found, he said.
Pakistani officials say ties between their powerful spy
agency ISI and Taliban have been broken. But the Times claims
there is no doubt that the Taliban continue to use Pakistan to
train, recruit, regroup and re-supply their movement.
The advantage of that haven in Pakistan, even beyond the
lawless tribal realms, has allowed the Taliban leadership to
exercise uninterrupted control of its insurgency through the
same clique of mullahs and military commanders who ran
Afghanistan as a theocracy and harboured Osama bin Laden until
they were driven from power in December 2001, the paper noted.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, August 04, 2008, 00:00