Taliban commander surrenders in Pakistan

October 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has said a multifaceted strategy is needed to deal with the Taliban effectively. Musharraf, who is on a lecture tour of the US currently, said that while the Al-Qaeda should be eliminated from Pakistan by force, dealing with the Taliban would require a military, political and socio-economic approach.

September 22nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani security forces have nabbed a top commander of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Shura Nasim alias Abu Faraj from the Charbagh region in Swat. Sources said Faraj masterminded several suicide attacks which have rocked Pakistan in the recent past.

September 21st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A senior commander of the banned militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been apprehended in northwest Pakistan's Swat region, media reports said Monday. According to sources, Nasim alias Abu Faraj, who masterminded many suicide attacks in the country, was arrested in an operation by Pakistani security forces, GEO News reported.

August 24th, 2009 WANA - A commander of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Monday said his organisation will select a new chief in the next five days according to the instruction of their leader Baitullah Mehsud, a media report said. Waliur Rehman, commander of the group in South Waziristan, said: We have thousands of suicide attackers, who can destroy their (government) targets anywhere.

August 20th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan commander, Khurshid, said to be a close ally of Mullah Fazlullah,surrendered before the District Coordination Officer Mingora at Saidu Airport along with 60 of his comrades. The Dawn quoted the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), as saying that the surrender was witnessed by a number of notables of the area, while the operation, Rah-e-Raast is continuing in Swat and Malakand Division.

August 20th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A Taliban leader from a Pakistan-Afghanistan border area has claimed he is now the acting chief of the Pakistani Taliban, while describing Baitullah Mehsud, who Pakistani authorities say was killed in a US drone attack Aug 5, as "seriously ill". Bajaur Agency Taliban commander Maulvi Faqir Mohammad Wednesday declared himself the acting chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), The News International reported.

August 7th, 2009 White House: Pakistan safer if Taliban chief deadWASHINGTON — A spokesman for President Barack Obama says the White House cannot confirm the killing of Pakistan's Taliban chief but added that the people of Pakistan are now safer if reports are accurate. The Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud (BEH'-tuh-luh mah-SOOD'), led a violent campaign of suicide attacks and assassinations against the Pakistani government.

July 24th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The United States would not allow the Taliban to sneak into Pakistan from Afghanistan and is working out a strategy for it, US Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke said before leaving Pakistan for Afghanistan after a two-day visit. Holbrooke said the US would not repeat its mistakes that it did in 2001 when hundreds of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters slipped into Pakistan's border region following the US led surge after 9/11.

July 3rd, 2009 LOWER DIR - Pakistani residents in the Hamza Banda area of Lower Dir district have ordered Taliban commander Mufti Aftab to leave the area immediately, a media report said Friday. The Taliban commander along with his eight aides had entered the area some days ago, the Online news agency said.

June 29th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, has said that it is too soon for Pakistan to declare victory in the Swat Valley, where the Army has purportedly put the Taliban insurgents on the back foot. Holbrooke, attending a G8 conference on stabilizing Pakistan and Afghanistan in Italy, said in an interview that it was too early for Pakistan to announce victory in Swat.

June 26th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - At least six militants, including a Taliban commander, were killed in two separate clashes in northwest Pakistan, Geo TV said Friday. The report said the security forces bombed two Taliban hideouts Thursday in the Chapri Feroz Khel and Atman Khel areas, killing at least six militants including a local Taliban commander.

June 20th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - With the Pakistan government deciding to initiate an offensive against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan, and ordering the troops to march in towards the warlord's stronghold in the region, both the government and Mehsud now want Maulvi Nazir, a key Taliban commander in Afghanistan, to side by them. While Mehsud is hell-bent upon creating havoc in Pakistan, Nazir is more focused on the Taliban's activities in Afghanistan and fighting against the US led allied forces there.

June 18th, 2009 Suspected US missile strikes in Pakistan kill 5ISLAMABAD — Government officials say five people are dead after suspected U.S. missile strikes hit the hide-outs of a Taliban commander in northwestern Pakistan.

May 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari Sunday said Islamabad is not adding to its nuclear arsenal as it does not need any more, but it would not disclose the location of its weapons to the US. Pakistan is 'not adding to our stockpile as such', Zardari said on NBC's Meet the Press programme.

April 9th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - After establishing their writ over the Swat Valley, the Taliban is looking to take Islamabad under its grip. According to The Nation, a Taliban commander has warned that the outfit would take their war to the capital city to retaliate against the continuous US drone strikes against them.