The Taliban said they had surrounded 50 followers of opposition commander Abdul Haq and acclaimed his capture Friday as a major triumph. Meanwhile, a report said that the US and Pakistan had failed so far in efforts to split the rulers of Kabul.
"The siege of around 50 associates of commander Abdul Haq is continuing," a Taliban spokesman was quoted as saying by the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) news agency, cited by AFP.
He added that there were suspicions that "foreigners" were among those surrounded.
The Taliban reported that Abdul Haq, a legendary figure in the fight against the 1979-1989 occupation by the Soviet Union, had been seized in the eastern town of Azro early on Friday.
A spokesman said US helicopters had gone on a bombing mission to try to save Abdul Haq.
Giving new details, an unidentified Taliban spokesman quoted by AIP, said: "This morning several helicopters searched for him at Azro and in adjoining areas but we have now sent him to Pul-i-Alam in Logar province.
"Commander Abdul Haq was trying to escape on a horse when he was arrested. We have also taken into possession two pickups and a Landcruiser from the place.
Abdul Haq "called the Americans through his satellite phone asking them for a bombardment. American planes pounded the area and two Taliban soldiers were injured and a pickup was destroyed.
"We have not arrested any foreigners but there is a possibility that they may be some foreigners among the 50 people under siege," the spokesman told AIP.
AIP said the Taliban were congratulating each other over the arrest of Abdul Haq which they consider a "major success."
EFFORTS TO SPLIT TALIBAN FRUITLESS
US and Pakistani intelligence agencies, hobbled by weak contacts and deep distrust, have failed to engineer any significant defections from the military ranks of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, said the Washington Post Friday, quoting officials familiar with the efforts.
The failure to lure defectors is a major setback for a central aspect of the strategy to topple the radical Islamic militia, the officials said.
Intelligence operatives trying to undermine the Taliban in Afghanistan's southern and eastern provinces have met "stiff resistance" from even the most ardently anti-Taliban tribal leaders, senior Pakistani intelligence officials said.
Washington's expectations that some key tribal leaders and moderate Taliban military commanders would be willing to turn against the Taliban soon after bombs began to fall on Afghanistan were "horrendously naive," said one Western official monitoring the intelligence agencies' attempts to foment dissent.
A Pakistani journalist with extensive experience in Afghanistan, Rahimullah Yusufzai, told the paper that: "There were expectations that the Taliban would not be able to stay in power, there would be defections, there would be local divisions against them. Nothing of the sort has happened. None of the expectations have been fulfilled."
TALIBAN MIGHT TARGET REFUGEES FOR RECRUITMENT
Foreign aid workers expressed fears Friday that the Taliban could use a refugee camp built on the Afghan-Pakistan border to conscript troops to fight the United States, according to AFP.
A camp established this week close to a key crossing point into Pakistan was initially seen as a humanitarian gesture to help tens of thousands of people fleeing US bombardments.
But policies of forced recruitment, appeals to tribes to send fighters, and refugee claims that the Taliban is forcing civilians to accept arms has led aid groups to question the motives.
"We are extremely concerned about the miniaturization of internally displaced people," UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokeswoman Fatoumata Kaba, told AFP.
"It is a real fear because we have seen this type of thing before in other camps in African countries like Rawanda, and Afghan refugees are telling us that the Taliban are distributing guns to people who don't want to fight." -Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
