US Questioning Military and Intelligence Services
Poor performance by government is clearly sufficient cause to be the focus of debate and criticism.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the outgoing US Ambassador to Afghanistan alleged that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has been hiding in Pakistan and that the Pakistani government was aware of his presence. Khalizad criticized Pakistan’s failure to act against Taliban leaders.
The ambassador took issue with a recent Pakistani TV station interview with Mullah Akhtar Usman, a senior Taliban commander.
“If a TV station can get in touch with them, how can the intelligence service of a country, which has nuclear bombs and a lot of security and military forces, not find them,” Khalilzad said in the interview with Aina broadcast on Friday evening. “Mullah Omar and other Taliban leaders should have been in Pakistan,” Khalilzad said. “Mr Usmani, who is one of the Taliban leaders, spoke to Pakistani Geo TV, at a time when Pakistani officials claimed that they did not know where they were.”
I wonder if the Pakistani government’s response will be, “Why can’t the most powerful nation on the planet, with the greatest military in history, safely secure a one and one-half mile section of road?” The road between the Baghdad International Airport and central Baghdad is the most dangerous territory in the world. We should run for cover if the response should lead to further questions, such as, “Did the US military need a new map and flashlights while camping out in Tora Bora?
