Nato hails capture of Taleban chief

NATO captured a senior leader of the al-Qaeda and Taleban-allied Haqqani network active inside Afghanistan, the alliance said yesterday, describing it as a “significant milestone” in disrupting the terror group’s operations.

Nato said Haji Mali Khan was seized on Tuesday during an operation in eastern Paktia province’s Jani Khel district, which borders Pakistan. It was the most significant capture of a Haqqani leader in Afghanistan, and could dent the group’s ability to operate along the porous border with Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas.

Shortly after Nato’s announcement, Taleban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid denied in a message to Afghan media that Khan had been arrested but provided no evidence that he was free.

Nato described Khan as an uncle of Siraj and Badruddin Haqqani, two of the son’s of the network’s aging leader Jalaludin Haqqani. However, in a recent report on the Haqqani’s by the Institute for the Study of War, Khan appears as a brother in-law to Jalaludin Haqqani.

The Pakistan-based Haqqani network is affiliated with the Taleban and al-Qaeda and has been described as the top security threat in Afghanistan. The group has been blamed for hundreds of attacks, including a 20-hour siege of the US Embassy and Nato headquarters last month.

Last week, US officials accused Pakistan’s spy agency of assisting the Haqqanis in attacks on Western targets in Afghanistan – the most serious allegation yet of Pakistani duplicity in the ten-year war.The US and other members of the international community have in the past blamed Pakistan for allowing the Taleban, and the Haqqanis in particular, to retain safe havens in the country’s tribal areas along the Afghan border – particularly in North Waziristan.

“He was one of the highest ranking members of the Haqqani network and a revered elder of the Haqqani clan,” Nato said of Khan, adding that he worked directly under Siraj Haqqani, and managed bases and had oversight of operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Khan also moved forces from Pakistan to Afghanistan to conduct terrorist activity, Nato said. “Jalaluddin Haqqani consistently placed Mali Khan in positions of high importance.”