Taliban spokesman denies being captured

Taliban spokesman Mujahi­d says he is safe and sound, living in a safe place.

A prominent spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, firmly denied that he had been captured on Monday, The New York Times reported. Reached on his usual cellphone number a few hours after Afghan officials announced his capture, Mujahid, angrily denied his arrest. “I am talking to you on the phone right now,” he told an Afghan reporter who has frequently interviewed him in the past. “I am safe and sound and living in a safe place.”

The reporter said his voice matched that of the man who over the past year has been the spokesman for Taliban activities in eastern and northern Afghanistan.

Afghan officials and those with the international forces operating here have maintained that Mujahid — one of two Taliban spokesmen — is not an individual, but rather a persona used by a number of Taliban insurgents adopting the same name and Afghan cellphone numbers.

However, many Afghan journalists he speaks to by telephone maintain that his voice has not changed at least in the past year, suggesting he is a single individual, as he — or his persona — has insisted.

The arrest had been reported in the Sar Hawza District, in the remote district in Paktika Province, in eastern Afghanistan along the Pakistan border, where the Taliban have been active. Two weeks ago, they killed the district governor on their second attempt to do so.

An Afghan government official there reported that Mujahid was among the suspects detained during joint coalition and Afghan military operations in the district. A second government official in Paktika confirmed the account. Both spoke anonymously because they were not authorised to release the information.

“Those people who were arrested in Paktika do not belong to us,” Mujahid said. “They are just some innocent civilians, and the forces of the puppet government may have forced the guy to confess and say he is Zabiullah Mujahid, NYT reported.

“As I said, I am safe and on the run and always looking after myself.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2011.