Taliban leader in trouble, claims US

Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar is facing “serious disagreements” with his commanders because of the rebel group’s failure to disrupt Afghanistan’s presidential election, the US military said today.

Spokesman Major Scott Nelson said the information was based on intelligence reports from Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan, but conceded that he did not know where the leader of the hard-line Islamic militia was hiding.

Nelson claimed that there was “significant demoralisation” among the Taliban and frustration over Omar’s “lack of effectiveness” after Afghanistan’s first democratic vote on October 9 passed off largely peacefully.

“There’s been serious disagreements between Mullah Omar and some of his lower commanders on the strategy for the follow-up after the election,” Nelson said in the Afghan capital Kabul.

Omar has been at large since the overthrow of the Taliban regime by US led forces in late 2001.

Pressed on whether the rebel leader was in Afghanistan or Pakistan, Nelson said: “I don’t know exactly where he’s located at.”

But he said: “We still see indications the man is involved in planning Taliban operations in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan.”

The US military, which has 18,000 forces hunting al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, claimed in August there was a fissure developing in the Taliban movement and that it was starting to collapse.