A top Afghan Taliban leader has been captured in Pakistan in what would be the fourth detention in recent weeks of senior members of the insurgent group, US media reported yesterday.
Mullah Abdul Kabir, a member of the militia’s ruling council, was picked up several days ago in Nowshera district in Pakistan’s northwest, according to reports in the New York Times and Washington Post that cited unnamed Pakistani security officials.
Pakistani officials declined to confirm the reports.
If confirmed, the arrest would be a further sign that Pakistan is turning away from its old strategy of allowing Afghan Taliban leaders safe haven in the country — something that could have far-reaching implications for the US-led war in Afghanistan.
Last week, Pakistani and US officials said the No. 2 Afghan Taliban leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, had been caught some 10 days earlier in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi.
Two other Taliban leaders — Mullah Abdul Salam of Kunduz Province and Mullah Mohammad in Baghlan Province — were arrested separately in Pakistan about 10 to 12 days ago, Kunduz governor, Mohammad Omar, said.
The reports gave few details of Kabir’s arrest, except that it happened recently.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin said yesterday he was stepping down to focus on his private business interests.
Tarin’s resignation is not expected to destabilize the government but international donors will be keen to see a respected minister appointed in his place.
“Tarin knows and understands the market well and there’s a bit of uncertainty about who will replace him,” said Sajid Bhanji, a dealer at brokers Arif Habib Ltd.
There has been speculation for weeks that Tarin, who negotiated an IMF loan in 2008, would resign.
“It is our duty, we should not mix up our official duties and personal business,” Tarin told Dunya Television.
Earlier, government officials said Tarin was stepping down to focus on his private banking interests.
In March 2008, a consortium comprising the International Finance Corporation, Bank Muscat, Nomura and Sinthos Capital, led by Tarin and another Pakistani banker, Sadeq Saeed, bought an 86.55 percent stake in Silk Bank for about US$213 million.
“He will be leaving soon, maybe as early as this week,” said a government official, who declined to be identified.
“He said he needs to focus on his business and that he can’t do both things at the same time,” he said.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS