Mullah Omar lived near a strategic US base in Afghanistan's Zabul province, according to a Dutch journalist's controversial book. The Taliban leader's bodyguard said "they felt relatively safe" despite the US presence.
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Taliban founder Mullah Omar lived next to a US base in the Afghan province of Zabul for years, Dutch journalist Bette Dam claims in her new Dutch-language book "Searching for the Enemy."
"The US, and almost everyone else, had it wrong," Dam, who spent eight years researching the Taliban leader, wrote in an English-language excerpt. "After 2001, Mullah Omar never stepped foot in Pakistan, instead opting to hide in this native land — and for eight years, lived just a few miles from a major US Forward Operating Base that housed thousands of soldiers."
Dam said the finding was corroborated by Taliban and Afghan officials, including Mullah Omar's personal bodyguard. She described it as a "staggering US intelligence failure."
"Though Mullah Omar did not venture outside for fear of being caught, according to (bodyguard) Jabbar Omari, in the four years they hid in that home they felt relatively safe," added Dam.
"We strongly reject this delusional claim and we see it is as an effort to create and build an identity for the Taliban and their foreign backers," said Afghan presidency spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri. "We have sufficient evidence which shows he lived and died in Pakistan."
David Petraeus, a former CIA director and US military commander in Afghanistan, cast doubt on the claim, telling the Wall Street Journal newspaper: "I would be very surprised if Mullah Omar would have taken the risk that we could come calling some evening." According to Dam, US troops nearly discovered him twice.
Seventeen years after the US invasion of Afghanistan, the war-torn country remains in the grip of Islamist violence. A string of deadly attacks in the last year suggests militants are stronger than ever.
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Fragile security
Repeated attacks in Afghanistan in 2018 and 2019 have killed and wounded hundreds of innocent Afghans, and shown the world the fragile and worsening state of security in the conflict-stricken country. The incidents have plunged war-weary Afghan citizens into a state of despair and highlighted the limitations faced by the government in Kabul in ensuring public security.
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A long series of attacks
The violent incidents have made Afghanistan once again a staple of international headlines. Outfits like the Taliban and the "Islamic State" (IS) have claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Afghan government is under heavy pressure to restore security and take back territory controlled by a number of insurgent groups, including the Taliban and IS.
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Spring offensive
In 2018, the Taliban announced the start of their annual spring offensive, dismissing an offer of peace talks by President Ashraf Ghani. The militants, fighting to restore their version of strict Islamic law to Afghanistan, said their campaign was a response to a more aggressive US military strategy adopted in 2017, which aims to force the militants into peace talks.
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Trump's Afghanistan policy
US President Donald Trump unveiled a new strategy for Afghanistan in 2017, vowing to deploy more troops to train and advise Afghan security forces. Trump also pledged to support Afghan troops in their war against the Taliban and maintain US presence in the country for as long as there was a need for it. In 2019, he reversed course and promised a troop pullout.
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Afghan peace process
Despite President Ghani's offer in February 2018 for peace talks "without preconditions," the Taliban had until 2019 shown no interest, dismissing the peace overtures as a "conspiracy."
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Pakistani support
Pakistan has been under pressure from Kabul and Washington to stop offering safe havens to militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, a charge Islamabad denies and insists that its influence over the insurgents has been exaggerated. Kabul and Islamabad regularly trade accusations of harboring the other country's militants and the harsh language has underscored the strains between them.
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Role of the warlords
Apart from the Taliban, Afghan warlords exercise massive influence in the country. Last year, Hizb-i-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar returned to Kabul after a 20-year exile to play an active role in Afghan politics. In September 2016, the Afghan government signed a deal with Hekmatyar in the hope that other warlords and militant groups would seek better ties with Kabul.
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An inefficient government
In the midst of an endless battle for power, President Ghani's approval ratings continue to plummet. Rampant corruption in the Afghan government and a long tug-of-war within the US-brokered national unity government has had a negative impact on the government's efforts to eradicate terrorism.
