Ah, Baradar!!!

Remember “Oh, Baradar!”? Well then you are gonna enjoy this:

Pakistan to consider releasing Mullah Baradar

😉

 

Oh, Baradar!

They said:
His capture PROVED Karachi was safe haven for Taliban leaders and miltants (funny even then since they were talking of one such person’s capture — some safe haven!)

It was hailed as a great success of CIA/ISI cooperation (funny as they still want us to believe CIA and ISI are enemies working against each other)

We were told by Zahid Hussain/WSJ/Dawn/etc. Baradar was the second-most powerful figure in Afghanistan’s Taliban movement and was more dangerous than Omar

Well now we are told Mullah Baradar has been released under ‘US pressure’

My related posts from back then:
Well talking of “conspiracy” here is a real on: All that talk of Talibanization of Karachi..
(Remember the Karachi Ashura bombings were blamed on them at the time, so now what happens to that? They need to find a new patsy)

And There Goes The “ISI vs U.S. Intelligence” Myth — Updated
(I had maintained this capture was no big breakthrough. Baradar was regularly meeting with ISI/CIA and they just nabbed him during one of these meetings)

A Quickie: Bayghairat Mercenaries Exposed Again

Pakistan Government and ISI and MI have been trying to sell the myth that they are playing hard to get. They have been pretending to have balls to refuse U.S. access to Baradar (his arrest itself exposed another myth).

Well, like many times before, it is Washington that has come out with the truth and our Negros are left — yet again — covering their ass pretending they were never naked.

What came out of Washington yesterday is that indeed they have full access to Mullah Baradar and they have in fact been interrogating him with the full cooperation of ISI (there goes that other myth again).

Embarrassed at yet another sellout being exposed, Pakistan authorities finally let it known that Americans do indeed have access to Mullah Baradar. But shameless that they are — and totally incapable of telling the truth — they are still selling the “limited-access” bit.

Also note from the link above:

The BBC’s Haroon Rashid in Islamabad says the Pakistani authorities are eager to dispel suggestions by some US officials that it orchestrated the arrest to derail Afghan government efforts to talk with the Taliban.

So Americans have admitted they arrested Baradar to kill yet another peace deal (something I had stated at Baradar’s arrest). It also confirms ONCE AND FOR ALL that Baradar was indeed meeting with them regularly so finding him was “a great fruit of super sensitive and dangerous operation between to great intelligence agencies” as it was being portrayed. The fella was meeting them regularly and during one of the meetings they arrested him. END OF STORY!

Regarding that above quote it is pathetic to see these Pakistani authorities still “eager to dispel suggestions” of the truth.

Up yours, you bayghairat bikao assholes!

And There Goes The “ISI vs U.S. Intelligence” Myth — Updated

First to shatter was the “No Drones bases” myth, next to shatter was “No Blackwater” myth, the other day “No US Soldiers Here” myth was shattered, and today goes the “ISI vs. Intelligence” myth…

US, Pakistan capture Mullah Baradar
WASHINGTON: The Taliban’s top military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, has been captured in Karachi in a joint raid by Pakistani and US spy agencies, a US official said, confirming a report of the capture in The New York Times….

Officially, of course, there are

• Still no drone bases here,
• No Blackwater here,
• No US Soldiers on the ground here, and
• ISI and U.S. spy agencies are still adversaries

🙂

(UPDATE TO THE UPDATE BELOW, APRIL 22, 2010:This story now stands FULLY CONFIRMED)

UPDATE: Appears this “success” might not be a success at all. “the capture of such a ‘big fish’” being defined as “a strategic victory” might only be a double-cross. Was Mulla Baradar “captured” after he was in Karachi on the invitation of those very ‘intelligence agencies’ for holding of ‘peace’ talks? (what in the world is the military commander of the Talibans doing in Karachi was the first question that came to my mind)  Well, you decide…

Mullah Baradar: friend or foe?

The Afghan authorities confirmed on Tuesday reports that the Taliban’s second-in-command, Mullah Baradar, has been arrested in Pakistan. But while the West considers the capture of such a ‘big fish’ a strategic victory, our correspondent points out that he was also the key to a possible diplomatic solution to the conflict.…
……….

Gain or loss?
Sources within Western intelligence agencies say that Mullah Baradar was previously in Dubai for talks. Others say that President Karzai sometimes ensured that Mullah Baradar was able to cross the border, while the mullah at times did the president a favour.

This morning I was awoken by a phone call informing me that Mullah Baradar had been arrested. Many analysts consider this positive news. This will weaken the Taliban and is clearly a military success. However this is a short-term gain. But what does it mean for Kabul’s ambitious plans to reach a peace agreement with the Taliban? After all, wasn’t Mullah Baradar the key to peace in Afghanistan?

Certainly it is clear from this that Baradar is a party to the on-going negotiations between West and Taliban. It also becomes clear that he was traveling around here and there holding talks (so his being in Karachi is no mystery any more). But why arrest him? Did he not agree to one of the ‘offers”?

UPDATE #2 (March 20, 2010): Last couple of days we have had confirmation upon confirmation that Mullah Baradar was not hiding in a cave but fully involved in negotiations with the West (was it UN only?) and Karzai.

First MSNBC reported that “before his arrest, Mullah Baradar was reportedly in secret talks with Kabul” which was confirmed by the denial of Karzai’s spokesman: “There was no direct contact between the government of Afghanistan and Mullah Baradar.” It also reported:

Karzai “was very angry” when he heard that the Pakistanis had picked up Baradar with an assist from U.S. intelligence, the Associated Press reported that an aide to Karzai had said. Besides the ongoing talks, he said Baradar had “given a green light” to participating in a three-day peace jirga that Karzai is hosting next month.

It goes on to add:

Talking with the Taliban is gaining traction in Afghanistan as thousands of U.S. and NATO reinforcements are streaming in to reverse the Taliban’s momentum. That has prompted Pakistan and others to stake out their positions on possible reconciliation negotiations that could mean an endgame to the eight-year war.
…
The capture was part of a U.S.-backed crackdown in which the Pakistanis also arrested several other Afghan Taliban figures along the porous border between the two countries, after years of being accused by Washington of doing little to stop them.

Far from expressing gratitude, members of Karzai’s administration were quick to accuse Pakistan of picking up Baradar either to sabotage or gain control of talks with the Taliban leaders.
…
Another theory is that Baradar, deemed more pragmatic than other top Taliban leaders, was detained to split him from fellow insurgents. McChrystal said recently that it was plausible that Baradar’s arrest followed an internal feud and purge among Taliban leaders.

There is also speculation that Baradar’s arrest was just lucky — even unintentional.

(Of course Pakistani security officers are latching on to this last one saying it was “a lucky accident” — and of course for that very reason I’ll say it proves it was anything but that. Had this been true, they NEVER would have admitted it and beaten their chest for launching a successful operation. Meanwhile, it is also being used to push the spin that indeed there is Taliban presence in Karachi).

Second, UN envoy Kai Eide, who stepped down from the post earlier this month, not only “confirmed for the first time that he had been holding talks with senior Taliban figures and said they started around a year ago“:

But the diplomat said the detentions had a ‘negative’ effect on attempts to find a political solution to the eight-year-old Afghan war and suggested Pakistan had deliberately tried to undermine the negotiations.

He also said there were now many channels of communication with the Taliban, including with representatives of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

“The effect of (the arrests), in total, certainly, was negative on our possibilities to continue the political process that we saw as so necessary at that particular juncture,” he said. “The Pakistanis did not play the role they should have played. They must have known about this,” said Mr Eide.

“I don’t believe these people were arrested by coincidence. They must have known who they were, what kind of role they were playing – and you see the result today.”

Asked about the level of contact in the talks, Mr Eide told the BBC: “We met senior figures in the Taliban leadership and we also met people who have the authority of the Quetta Shura to engage in that kind of discussion.”

Third, it is being reported today that Karzai’s spokesman now says “We confirm the negative impact of the arrests on the peace process that the Afghan government has initiated.” “He also confirmed that the former UN envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, had held peace talks with Taliban figures and said Eide had kept the Afghan government informed of his actions.”
(Of course both Pakistan Foreign Office and the Taliban have rejected these claims.)

Trophy Baradar on display

Side Note: I find it hilarious the way Pakistan is trying to show it has balls by pretending to turning down US request to hand over Baradar. What makes it even funnier is that they say “No we will not hand over Baradar to US BUT we will hand him over to Afghanistan”

Related:
From last year’s Newsweek, Mullah Baradar: In His Own Words
(Was this a build-up of Baradar?)

Another wild conspiracy theory is aired in UAE:

The mystery of Baradar and Gadahn: a new ‘End Game’?

One of the most prominent is that Baradar arranged his own capture to negotiate with the Americans, who presumably would arrange for the demise of the Taliban leader Mullah Omar before organising an “escape” for Baradar. Meanwhile, his “confessions” ensure the capture or elimination of hardliners who might pose a challenge to negotiations.