Malala's enemy: Mullah Fazlullah hiding in Afghanistan, US officials confirm

Unnamed US officials say they are not focused on Fazlullah since he is not affiliated with al Qaeda.


Web Desk November 07, 2012

WASHINGTON: US officials have confirmed that notorious Mullah Fazlullah, a commander of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, is hiding in Afghanistan, The Washington Post (WP) reported on Wednesday.

Fazlullah was reportedly behind the attack on teenage child rights activist Malala Yousufzai.

Citing unnamed US officials, the WP report stated that the Taliban leader has escaped retribution by hiding in a section of eastern Afghanistan where the US forces are present but focused on other targets.

“Finding Fazlullah is not a priority because he is not affiliated with al Qaeda or with insurgents targeting US and Afghan interests”, the officials said as per the report.

“Our guys just aren’t tracking him,” a senior Special Operations official said. “He is viewed as an ‘other-side-of-the-border’ problem.”

Malala was attacked by Taliban gunmen on October 9, when she was returning home from school. She was shifted to the UK for medical treatment.

Pakistan has repeatedly asked the US to hunt down Fazlullah, even handing over a dossier on him to authorities, but scant action has been taken.

COMMENTS (48)

Air Jordan Femme | 11 years ago | Reply Very good.Thanks
A_Khan | 11 years ago | Reply

"Pakistan has repeatedly asked the US to hunt down Fazlullah"

When will the Pakistani government stop being lazy, and stop requesting favours from the US gov? It is clear that USA does not care about Pakistan's internal issues and yet many Pakistanis are in favour of the US. This is an internal issue. The Pakistani government should search for this target on their own and stop this sheer madness by disengaging themselves from this war. We need to build an independent nation and solve this problem from the ground root. It all begins with talking, reaching a solution - not by shooting your 'opposition' aimlessly. Shame on the Pakistani government for not preventing the Malala incident.

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