Continuing their streak of striking at the heart of Taliban resistance in Afghanistan, American and Pakistani intelligence forces announced that they’d captured two important leaders of the rebel group. Both are what officials called “shadow governors” of two northern provinces. Mullah Abdul Salam was the Taliban leader in the province of Kunduz, and Mullah Mohammed was the leader of the Baghlan territory. Both were captured in Pakistani cities. This is the second serious blow to the Taliban in less than a week — on Monday the group’s military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, was captured. He was second in power in the Taliban only to founder Mullah Mohammed Omar. All the arrests, according to reports, were made by Pakistani officials, but the Times at least suspects that CIA officers played key, if not leadership, roles.
In Blow to Taliban, 2 More Senior Leaders Are Arrested [NYT]
