Commander Captured

The lead article in today’s New York Times is titled, “Secret Joint Raid Captures Taliban’s Top Commander.” It describes the arrest of Mullah Baradar, the Taliban’s military chief, second only to its spiritual leader, Mullah Omar.

The arrest is significant because of the role played by Pakistan’s Intelligence Agency, ISI. Previously, there was some degree of sheltering and mutual assistance between ISI and the Taliban, because the Pakistanis wanted an internal ally inside of Afghanistan when the Americans eventually left.

However, recently there has been a “sea change” in cooperation between ISI and the CIA as the Pakistani government has come to view the Taliban as a threat to its own stability.

Mullah Baradar has been undergoing some extreme questioning, and, reading between the lines, it seems like the Pakistani questioners have exceeded some of the new constraints imposed by President Obama. The arrest certainly comes at an opportune time in the middle of the U.S. offensive against Marja.

There is also the continuing question of whether some more moderate elements of the Taliban could eventually negotiate with the United States in a way similar to the Sunnis in Iraq during the Great Awakening. As a whole, the Taliban refuse to accept the Afghan constitution or renounce Al Qaeda, but with the lack of a strong military leader at the top, maybe this will change.