'Quetta shura' top issue in US talks with Pakistan

[Naveed Yaseen]

* American officials blame shura for recent violence in Afghanistan
* Say they believe Taliban still get support from parts of ISI

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: The so-called Quetta shura issue is now at the top of the US’ agenda in its meetings with Pakistani officials, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

Citing senior American officials, the paper said Taliban leaders were using sanctuaries in Pakistan to stoke a widening campaign in Afghanistan. The expansion comes as the US government struggles to settle on a new military strategy for Kabul.

American military and intelligence officials told the paper the Quetta shura was directly responsible for the recent wave of violence in northern and western Afghanistan.

The assessment echoes a recent report by Gen Stanley McChrystal portraying the Taliban as an increasingly sophisticated shadow government that sees itself on the cusp of victory.

The report said Mullah Omar has appointed shadow governors in most provinces, levies taxes, establishes courts there and conducts a formal review of the military campaign every winter.

Support: American officials said they believed the Taliban leadership still gets support from parts of the Inter-Services Intelligence as some of its officials see Mullah Omar as a valuable asset.

The paper pointed out that the more the US government wrestles publicly with how substantial and lasting a military commitment to make to Afghanistan, the more the ISI is likely to retain and strengthen its bonds with the Taliban as Pakistan hedges its bets.

American officials have long complained that Taliban leaders operating from Quetta provide money, military supplies and strategic planning guidance to the Taliban in the south of Afghanistan, where most of the American forces were deployed. Recently, however, the Taliban have surprised American commanders by stepping up attacks against allied troops elsewhere in the country.

A senior Pakistani official said the US had asked Pakistan to round up 10 Taliban leaders in Quetta. Of those, six had been killed or captured by Pakistan, two are believed to be in Afghanistan and two have presented no threat.

In his message on Eid, Mullah Omar taunted his American adversaries for ignoring the lessons of past military failures in Afghanistan, and claimed that the Taliban had emerged as a nationalist movement that “is approaching the edge of victory”.

“The Quetta shura – you can’t knock on their clubhouse door,” a Western diplomat said. “It’s much more of an amorphous group that as best we can tell moves around. They go to Karachi, they go to Quetta, they go across the border.”

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...2009_pg7_4