Taliban

February 16, 2011 Special Dispatch No.3590 Former Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef: 'America Has Won Hatred of All Afghans and They Will Lose the War in Afghanistan'; 'Quetta Shura… is Giving Instructions and Advice to [Mullah] Omar'; 'We Are Not Against India' In a recent interview, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban's former ambassador to Islamabad and a former Guantanamo Bay inmate, stated that the U.S. has already lost the war in Afghanistan. He added that foreign forces will never win a "military victory" there. Mullah Zaeef also reiterated media reports that the Quetta Shura, i.e. the executive council of the Taliban in based in Pakistan's Quetta city, continues to advise Taliban leader Mullah Omar. In the interview, which was published by the Indian magazine The Week, Mullah Zaeef also reveals that after 9/11, when the U.S. wanted the Taliban to hand over Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Pakistan emboldened them against doing so. In recent years, Mullah Zaeef has played some role in mediating the Afghan government's peace efforts with the Taliban. The full text of this report is available to MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor Subscribers. Subscription information is available at this link. JTTM subscribers can visit this page to view the report.