Kabul: In an unusual comment, Afghan Taliban has praised India as a "significant country" in the region and said New Delhi has done well to resist US calls for greater military involvement in Afghanistan.
"No doubt that India is a significant country in the region... They are aware of the Afghans' aspirations, creeds and love for freedom. It is totally illogical they should plunge their nation into a calamity just for the American pleasure," the Taliban said in a statement.
The group, accused of repeatedly targetting Indian interests in Afghanistan and believed to be close to Pakistani spy agency ISI, praised India for what it called sending US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta "empty handed towards Kabul."
Taliban led by elusive one-eyed Mullah Omar said that Panetta in his recent visit to India encouraged New Delhi to take a more active role in Afghanistan as most foreign combat troops leave the country in 2014, but he failed to "gain any success or progress in his efforts."...
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04:23 PM, Jun 17, 2012
Islamabad: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Friday said Mullah Mohammad Omar, the supreme commander of the Afghan Taliban, was not in Pakistan and it was "preposterous" to think that Islamabad could ensure his participation in peace talks with the Afghan government. Khar made the remarks during an interaction with reporters at the conclusion of a joint news conference in Islamabad by the Presidents of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. She...
08:57 AM, Feb 18, 2012
Kabul: The elusive Afghan Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, who had called on his warriors last November to continue the war against NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, has now confirmed having opened peace talks with the US authorities, Geo News reported. The one-eyed Omar, who has escaped the US manhunt since his regime was ousted in late 2001, made two demands -- release of Afghan prisoners from Guantanamo Bay detention...
06:20 PM, Jan 06, 2012
London: Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar is beyond Pakistani control, former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has claimed, describing him as "absolutely obstinate" and semi-literate. Claiming that Pakistan should tell US that it has compulsions of "national interest" in not cracking down on the Haqqani network, Musharraf told Telegraph that Omar was semi-literate and not aware of issues of the world. Apparently indicating that Haqqani terror outfit was Pakistan's safe bet...
07:07 PM, Sep 29, 2011
Mullah Omar, America's second most wanted man after Osama bin Laden, is still on run. ...
09:46 AM, Sep 11, 2011
Washington: Pakistan's powerful ISI is providing safe haven to the Taliban leadership and the West need not mount a military operation to capture Mullah Omar as the elusive insurgent chief "is with them," according to Afghanistan's former spy chief. The former head of Afghanistan's National Directorate Amrullah Saleh, who quit his post last year over disagreements with Hamid Karzai, said the Afghan President was working in greater collaboration with the...
01:32 AM, Aug 04, 2011
Islamabad: The US has established contacts with Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar to negotiate an end to the conflict in Afghanistan, a media report on Tuesday said. Abdul Haqiq, a former Afghan Taliban spokesman who used the alias Mohammad Hanif, played a key role in helping Washington reach out to Mullah Omar, 'The Express Tribune' newspaper quoted a source as saying. Haqiq was arrested by US and Afghan intelligence...
02:47 PM, Jun 14, 2011
New Delhi: The US getting tough on Pakistan. It has given the country a deadline till July to capture five most wanted al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists. Pakistani security forces have been asked to capture al-Zawahiri, Mullah Omar, Illyas Kashmiri, Sirajuddin Haqqani and Atia Abdur Rehman either in a unilateral or joint military action. July is when NATO and allied forces begin withdrawing from neighbouring Afghanistan. PTI also quoted a...
08:09 AM, Jun 02, 2011
New Delhi: Afghanistan on Tuesday said it has received reports of reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar being killed, but they have not been confirmed. "As spokesperson of our security office announced, we received that kind of reports but they are not confirmed," Afghanistan's Minister for Information and Culture Sayeed Makhdoom Raheem on Tuesday said. The Afghan intelligence agency had on Monday said that Omar disappeared from a suspected hideout...
05:45 PM, May 24, 2011
Watch the day's top stories on India @ 9 with Rajdeep Sardesai. ...
12:08 AM, May 24, 2011
Kabul: The Taliban in Afghanistan rejected on Monday unsourced media reports that its leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had been killed in Pakistan, saying he is alive and in Afghanistan. Following are some questions and answers about the reclusive, one-eyed Mullah Omar, his background and motives. Who is he? Most reports have it that Mullah Omar, an ethnic Pashtun, was born into an impoverished family in the town of Nodeh in...
03:07 PM, May 23, 2011
Kabul: The Taliban in Afghanistan rejected on Monday as "propaganda" unsourced media reports that its reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had been killed in Pakistan, saying he is alive and in Afghanistan. Security officials in Pakistan and diplomats, US military commanders and government officials in Afghanistan all cast doubt on reports that Omar, one of the most-wanted men in the world, had been killed while traveling between Quetta and North...
01:48 PM, May 23, 2011
Talking to CNN-IBN, former ISI chief Hamid Gul said that he had been at his home and reports of him being with Taliban chief Mullah Omar, who is reported to have been killed, are rubbish. ...
12:26 PM, May 23, 2011
Kabul: Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has reportedly been killed in Pakistan. Afghan news channel Tolo TV claimed that Mullah Omar was killed in a NATO attack as he was being moved from Quetta to North Waziristan two days ago. According to Afghan National Directorate of Security spokesperson Lutfullah Mashal claimed Mullah Omar was being escorted by a former Pakistani's intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) chief General Hamid...
11:19 AM, May 23, 2011
New York: An Egyptian who was once a Special Forces officer has been chosen "caretaker" leader of al Qaeda in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death, according to a source with detailed knowledge of the group's inner workings. Al Qaeda's interim leader is Saif al-Adel, who has long played a prominent role in the group, according to Noman Benotman. Benotman has known the al Qaeda leadership for more than...
07:02 AM, May 18, 2011
New Delhi: The Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), Pakistani's intelligence agency, is soon going to launch a massive operation to hunt down Taliban leader Mullah Omar. The agency, left red-faced after a team of US Navy SEALs killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the garrison town of Abbottabad, has decided to launch the operation before the US forces get him, Pakistani newspaper 'The Nation' reported. With the US having...
08:22 PM, May 10, 2011
Islamabad: Pakistan will have to decide on the issue of conducting a joint operation with the US against Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders like Mullah Omar and Ayman al-Zawahiri if they are found in the country, American Ambassador Cameron Munter said on Monday. The future of Pakistan-US relations is closely linked to Islamabad's replies to questions that have been raised by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's presence in Pakistan, Munter indicated...
02:27 PM, May 09, 2011
London: The victory of the Taliban over US-led forces in Afghanistan is imminent, the group's elusive chief Mullah Omar has said in a rare statement. BBC on Thursday quoted the one-eyed guerrilla leader as saying that the Taliban was winning because the Western military campaign aimed at snuffing out the militia had been "a complete failure". Mullah Omar, thought to be the spiritual head of the Taliban, demanded that US...
04:04 PM, Sep 09, 2010
Islamabad: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Tuesday that neither Osama bin Laden nor Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar were present in Pakistan, a day after the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asserted that the al-Qaeda chief is still in the country. Gilani said the US should provide "credible and verifiable information" if they think Osama bin Laden is in Pakistan as he stressed that neither bin Laden...
09:51 AM, Jul 21, 2010
Pakistan's intelligence service helping militant leader, says report. ...
03:10 PM, Nov 20, 2009
