14 Taliban detainees extradited

KABUL—Pakistan has extradited 14 Taliban to Afghanistan, the first such move by Islamabad since US-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001, officials said on Thursday.
Taliban spokesmen Abdul Latif Hakimi and Mohammad Yasar were the most senior members of the group of 14 men sent back by military plane to Afghanistan on Wednesday, they said.
The fugitives, who were blindfolded for the trip, would be tried over their role in violence against the Afghan government and foreign troops based in Afghanistan, officials said.
While hailing the extradition, Kabul urged its neighbour to hunt down more suspected militants based in Pakistan.
“Such measures by Pakistan would strengthen relations between the two countries and, God willing, may we have more successes in future too in this regard,” Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanezai said.
President Hamid Karzai had demanded Hakimi’s extradition after his arrest earlier this month in Pakistan.
In the past Pakistan has handed over al Qaeda members and Taliban officials to the United States, but this was the first time it had extradited Taliban fugitives to Kabul. Afghanistan has repeatedly complained that Taliban guerrillas have been able to organise attacks against the Afghan government and US-led troops from Pakistan.
The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) quoted a new Taliban spokesman, Mullah Abdul Hayee Motmain, as saying that the arrest and extradition of Hakimi and Yasar was “contrary to justice and international law”. He said the men held no important positions with the radical Islamist movement.
“Hakimi was just communicating correct reports to media,” he told the news agency by telephone from an undisclosed location. “His arrest and extradition to the Kabul government runs counter to American claims that freedom of expression is a right of any person,” he said.
“Mohammad Yasar was not included in the Taliban government ... he just had a difference of opinion with America,” he added, without elaborating. More than 1,100 people, mostly militants, have died in the Taliban-linked violence this year, the bloodiest since U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban.
Afghan officials Thursday welcomed the extradition of 14 suspected Taliban members from neighboring Pakistan, saying they hoped the move would mark a new era of cooperation. Kabul has repeatedly accused Islamabad of being soft on Taliban militants who base themselves on the Pakistani side of the frontier and sneak into Afghanistan to carry out attacks. Pakistani officials have denied the charge.
Among those extradited to Kabul on Wednesday was Latif Hakimi, a purported Taliban spokesman who was arrested in the Pakistani city of Quetta last month. He would often telephone news agencies to claim responsibility for insurgent attacks, though his exact ties to the Taliban leadership are not clear. U.S. military and Afghan officials knew of his whereabouts for months but took no action as they gained valuable information on the insurgents by monitoring his phone calls. But they pushed Pakistan to arrest him after he allegedly urged a group of militants last month to kill a kidnapped British engineer, according Afghan officials close to President Hamid Karzai.
Khaleeq Ahmed, a spokesman for Karzai, said the men would be prosecuted. “They will be put on trial. We have evidence on almost all of them,” he said. “Hakimi has claimed responsibility for so many killings, including the British engineer”. Afghan state TV showed video of soldiers leading the 14 men, all blindfolded, off a military transport plane at the airport in Kabul. “This is a positive development between Pakistan and Afghanistan,” Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanekzai said. “We are hopeful that this new cooperation will help in our war against terrorism”.
Khaleeq said the men will face extensive questioning amid a reinvigorated insurgency that has left almost 1,500 people dead this year in the deadliest violence since the ouster of the fundamentalist regime in late 2001. US military commanders say that although the rebels have suffered heavy casualties in fighting this year — nearly 900 — the militants are recruiting young fighters and the insurgency is expected to continue well into 2006. In the latest violence, a bomb attached to a bicycle blew up Thursday in the main southern Afghan city of Kandahar, killing a policeman in a passing vehicle and injuring two civilians, Gov. Asadullah Khalid said. Taliban rebels were believed responsible, Khalid said. Police cordoned off the area but no one was arrested, he said. The bomb was detonated by remote control.—INP/Agencies