Former Taliban leader 'hiding in Pakistan'

The head of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime, Mullah Mohammed Omar, lives in the Pakistani city of Quetta under the protection of the country's intelligence service, according to a captured Taliban official. Pakistan, which consistently rejects claims it is sheltering or assisting the Taliban, who were overthrown by the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, dismissed the latest allegation as "totally baseless." It was made by Mohammed Hanif, a Taliban spokesman captured on Jan. 15 near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. Reporters were shown a video purporting to be Hanif's interrogation by Afghanistan's intelligence service. "He lives in Quetta," Hanif said of Mullah Omar when asked about the Taliban leader's whereabouts. "He is protected by ISI," he added, referring to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency. Afghan president Hamid Karzai has made similar allegations in the past. However, Pakistan's interior minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao, rejected the claim, saying "this is totally baseless." "We have no information on the whereabouts of Mullah Omar. He is not living in Pakistan," he said, adding that the Afghan intelligence service had "made contradictory statements since the arrest of this so-called spokesman of Taliban." In the recording of his interrogation, Hanif also alleges that the former head of Pakistan's intelligence service, Hamid Gul, supported Taliban militants in their fight against Afghan and foreign troops. Mullah Omar is, along with Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders, among the key targets of US troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan is an ally of US anti-terrorism efforts but has been accused of sheltering Taliban and al-Qaida officials, something it denies. Last month, a US-led coalition air strike killed Mullah Akhtar Mohammed Osmani, a key associate of Mullah Omar and the highest-ranking Taliban leader killed since the invasion of Afghanistan.