Non-Subscriber Extract
Taliban holds Pakistan's envoy to Afghanistan
21 April 2008
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On 19 April, Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin, who was kidnapped in Khyber Agency in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in February, appeared in a video aired by Dubai-based news station al-Arabiya, in which he said he was being held by Taliban forces. |
The Pakistani envoy reportedly identified himself as the ambassador to Afghanistan. AFP reported that the ambassador asked Pakistan's envoys in Iran and China "to do all they can to protect our lives and to answer all the demands of the mujahideen of Taliban to secure their release".
FORECAST |
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It is possible that criminal gangs, known to operate in the area of Khyber agency where the ambassador was kidnapped, sympathetic to local Taliban, may be behind the kidnapping. Nevertheless, over the medium to long term, the influence of the Pakistani Taliban - a collection of disparate tribal groups, which are heavily divided along tribal and regional lines - appears to be spreading, intensifying the tribal militancy in the region. |