US Captures Senior Pakistani Taliban

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The United States has confirmed that American forces have captured a high-ranking member of the Pakistani Taliban, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said U.S. forces captured Latif Mehsud in a military operation, but did not say where or when it occurred.She described Mehsud as a senior commander and a “trusted confidant” of the Pakistani Taliban’s leader, Hakimullah Mehsud.News reports said U.S. forces seized Latif Mehsud recently in Afghanistan.Some reports said he was snatched by American troops as he was traveling with Afghan agents who were trying to recruit him to work toward peace talks with the Afghan and Pakistani governments.Arsallah Jamal, governor of Logar Province in eastern Afghanistan, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying Mehsud was captured a week ago as he was driving along a highway that connects to Kabul. He said Mehsud was in a car with two or three other men when the U.S. military arrested him.A report in the “Washington Post” quoted Aimal Faizi, a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, as saying U.S. troops forcibly seized Mehsud and took him to Bagram air base, which includes a U.S.-run detention facility./149