Taliban leader held on US warship

The highest-ranking member of the Taliban under US custody was being held aboard a warship today, and Afghanistan’s interim prime minister vowed that fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar will be arrested eventually.

But Omar appeared to have eluded capture in Baghran, a mountainous region in central Afghanistan, where government officials claimed a few days ago he was surrounded by anti-Taliban forces negotiating his surrender.

Visiting an orphanage in the Afghan capital, Kabul, Prime Minister Hamid Karzai said that Omar, a one-eyed cleric who is America’s most wanted man after Osama bin Laden, would be taken into custody.

‘‘We are looking for him, and we will arrest him,’’ Karzai said.

The United States hopes a pair of high-profile prisoners will provide valuable intelligence about bin Laden’s al-Qaida network, blamed for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, and the radical Taliban movement that gave the organisation a base of operations.

Marine Lt James Jarvis told a news briefing that the Taliban’s ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, was in US custody on a naval ship in the Arabian Sea.

Ibn Al-Shayk al-Libi, who ran al-Qaida terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, was transferred yesterday from anti-Taliban forces to US authorities at Kandahar airport, controlled by the US Marines.

‘‘The big question, of course, is: Will they talk?’’ former Central Intelligence Agency terrorism analyst Stan Beddington said in the United States.

‘‘If they are able to talk, I have no doubt whatsoever they will give a lot of information, particularly in the search for bin Laden.’’

Jarvis said 25 new prisoners arrived Saturday night in Kandahar from Pakistan, where they were intercepted trying to flee, bringing the total to 300. They were being interrogated for information on al-Qaida in the area.

‘‘We are looking for things we can act upon,’’ Jarvis said. ‘‘We remain active in our quest to (uncover) al-Qaida and Taliban’’ warriors.

Last week, Marines scoured a former al-Qaida training camp about 60 miles west of Kandahar.

They found documents on weapons systems, chemical formulas for explosions, and examination papers on how to destroy aircraft.

Zaeef was probably the best-known face of the Taliban, giving daily news conferences at his embassy in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, during the height of the US-led bombing campaign in October and November to topple the extremist Islamic regime.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees rejected his application for refugee status. Pakistan, the Taliban’s strongest supporter before the September 11 attacks said Zaeef was no longer protected by diplomatic immunity after the Taliban government fell.