PAKISTAN: Pakistan arrests 14 suspected Taliban

Pakistan has arrested 14 suspected Taliban, including six wounded fighters who were being treated in a hospital in the southwestern city of Quetta, police said on Wednesday (September 13). The arrested suspects were under investigation at a police station in Quetta. Frequently praised by the United States for helping fight the al Qaeda network, Pakistan has become increasingly sensitive to criticism that it is soft on the Taliban. With President Pervez Musharraf due to visit the United States this month, Pakistan is keen to avoid a repetition of the embarrassing row that broke out during Bush's visit to Pakistan in March over Afghan accusations that the Pakistanis were not doing enough to curb the insurgency. The ferocity of a Taliban offensive in southern Afghanistan has surprised NATO commanders who recently took over responsibility for security in the region from U.S. forces in July. An official said on Wednesday Pakistan had caught and handed over 104 Taliban members to Afghanistan, although its record against al Qaeda suspects appeared far better, with 709 caught, of whom 542 had been extradited, and 123 released after being cleared. He said it was harder to identify Taliban as they easily merged into the ethnic Pashtun population in border provinces, while it was easier to spot foreigners from al Qaeda. But he rejected notions that Pakistan had gone easy on the Taliban because the government had supported Taliban rule in Afghanistan prior to Musharraf's foreign policy U-turn days after al Qaeda's Sept 11. attacks on the United States.

ITN Source | September 15, 2006

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