The former mythical Taliban leader was hiding within 5 km of an American base. In Afghanistan – 03/11/2019

The founder of the Taliban, the deceased Mullah Mohammed Omar, He lived for years – when he was one of the most wanted men in the world and weighed $ 10 million in rewards – near an American base South of L & # 39; Afghanistan says a book of a Dutch journalist.

"Looking for an Enemy", from Bette Dam, a biography of the one-eyed mullah, says that man has lived 5 km from a base American in the province of Zabul.

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For years, he has lived in isolation, without seeing his family and taking notes in code, explains the author who, after five years of investigation, interviewed dozens of Taliban leaders and the mullah's bodyguard.

This conclusion, "corroborated by Taliban and Afghan officials, suggests a surprising failure of US intelligence", says Bette Dam in a presentation form of her book.

For Washington, who promised a $ 10 million reward for information allowing him to be captured, Mullah Omar was a refugee in Pakistan.

But "he stayed in Zabul province all the time, and there was an American base nearby … and that's where he died," Taliban spokesman said. Zabihullah Mujahid, questioned by AFP. Bette Dam does not lie, he added.

"He died of an illness that could have been treated" he was not detained in Zabul, Mujahid added on Twitter.

According to the book, after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 after five years in power, Mullah Omar badigned his attributions to another leader of the movement to become a spiritual leader.

At first, he took refuge in a small complex in Qalat, capital of Zabul province (south). The family with whom he lived three years I did not know who he was.

US forces have almost captured it twice, the reporter said. First, Mullah Omar is hidden behind a pile of firewood at the patrol's pbadage. The second, foreign troops searched the entire complex, with the exception of the room where he was.

During the construction of the Lagman base in 2004, a few hundred meters from his refuge, the mullah changed hiding places in the same province. But soon after, a second base, Wolverine, was built 5 km from its hiding place.

More than 1,000 US militaryas well as members of the British and American Special Forces were stationed there. Mullah Omar has not changed his hiding place and is rarely out. use tunnels when American planes bombed, the book indicates it.

The Taliban founder had been isolated years ago, listening to the BBC in Pashtun. The mullah died in 2013. For two years, the Taliban they kept their death secret.

Through its spokesman, Haroon Shajansuri, the Afghan presidency has "firmly rejected" the journalist's "delusional claims". "We have enough evidence to show that he lived and died in Pakistan, point to follow," he tweeted.

The former director of the CIA and former head of US forces in Afghanistan, David Petraeus, was skeptical. "We had access to everything (the territory) of Afghanistan and we would be very surprised that Mullah Omar took that risk," he told The Wall Street Journal.

The former Afghan Interior Minister, Amrulá Saleh, head of intelligence services between 2004 and 2010, said that he had "stacks and stacks of evidence" on the stay and death of the Taliban in Pakistan.

Source: AFP

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