[R-G] Taliban kidnap Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan, demand release of Mansoor Dadullah

[Anthony Fenton]

Taliban kidnap Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan, demand release of  
Mansoor Dadullah
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/02/ 
taliban_kidnap_pakis_1.php
On the same day Pakistani security forces captured the former Taliban  
commander of southern Afghanistan, the Taliban retaliated by  
kidnapping Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan. The Taliban have  
offered to release Ambassador Tariq Azizuddin in exchange for Mansoor  
Dadullah.

Ambassador Azizuddin went missing yesterday after traveling from  
Peshawar to Kabul. He has been reported to have been kidnapped in the  
town of Jamrood in the Khyber tribal agency as he was traveling to  
Afghanistan. Ambassador Azizuddin is said to have traveled "without  
taking a security escort," the BBC reported yesterday. "Mr. Azizuddin  
is said to have previously travelled to Kabul by road, often without  
the tribal security escort."

The kidnapping of Ambassador Azizuddin is a troubling development,  
said Tim Lynch, the Director of Operations at Vigilant Strategic  
Services, a contracting company operating in Afghanistan. The Afridi  
tribe, which controls the region, is considered friendly to the  
Pakistani government. "If [the Afridi] kidnapped the ambassador it is  
not a good sign," said Lynch.

Security along the Khyber Pass is tight, as this is a main supply  
route for US and NATO forces operating in Afghanistan. "There are not  
many areas of the pass that are isolated – in fact none come to  
mind," said Lynch, who has traveled the Khyber Pass several times  
escorting dignitaries between the countries. "You can’t boost an  
ambassador in the middle of the Khyber agency – there are too many  
people with guns hanging around." The BBC reported the road is  
heavily guarded, with "a contingent of tribal police posted every 100  
meters."

But Taliban has been active on the road in the past. A suicide bomber  
attacked a military outpost in Jamrood on Jan. 24. The Taliban blew  
up 13 oil tankers destined for NATO forces in Afghanistan in June  
2007 and another tanker in November 2007.

"Local Taliban" have claimed responsibility for Azizuddin's  
kidnapping and have demanded the release of Mansoor Dadullah as a  
condition to set the ambassador free. Mansoor was captured by  
Pakistani forces yesterday along with five other Taliban fighters in  
the district of Zhob in Baluchistan province. Mansoor was the former  
Taliban commander of forces in southern and southwestern Afghanistan  
before he was relieved of his command by Taliban leader Mullah Omar.  
Dadullah was fired after he "carried out activities which were  
against the rules of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," Omar said in a  
statement.

The Northwest Frontier Province and tribal areas remain chaotic

The kidnapping of Azizuddin and the capture of Mansoor occurs just  
days after the military halted operations in South Waziristan and the  
Taliban declared a cease-fire in the tribal regions and the settled  
district of Swat. The new Pakistani interior minister ordered the  
formation of a peace jirga, or committee, to negotiate with the Taliban.

But the attacks have not abated. On Feb. 9, a Taliban suicide bomber  
struck a political rally held by the Awami National Party in the  
settled district of Charsadda. Twenty-five Pakistanis were killed and  
more than 35 wounded. Two days later on Feb. 11, the Taliban again  
struck a political office of the Awami National Party, this time in  
North Waziristan. Eight Pakistanis were killed, including two senior  
party leaders, and 13 were critically wounded after a car bomb  
slammed into the party office near Miramshah. The Awami National  
Party is a secular Pashtun political party despised by the Taliban.