Strategist's capture big blow for Taleban

The capture of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taleban's top strategist, deals a psychological blow to the insurgents fighting Nato troops in southern Afghanistan.

As the right-hand man of the reclusive Taleban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, Baradar takes responsibility for day-to-day campaigning and is the most senior Taleban member to travel inside Afghanistan regularly.

Yet, unprecedented as the incident is, observers are cautious about extrapolating too much from the reports of his arrest. "It's impossible to be specific about the way this will develop," said a security analyst in Kabul. "It's wait-and-see time."

Hurting the leadership is just one component of the West's strategy to defeat the militants and "for the most part, catching one individual is going to have no effect on a network," the security analyst said.

Baradar may be an exception, as the Taleban's immediate denial of his arrest would suggest. "He has not been captured," their spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters.

"They want to spread this rumour just to divert the attention of people from their defeats in Marjah."

But the critical part of the West's counter-insurgency campaign remains driving a wedge between the Taleban and the civilian population they hide among. Smashing their finances is another priority.

Nato's best hope is that Baradar's capture demoralises other Taleban leaders and temporarily disrupts their ability to plan. This would come as a relief to US Marines and their allies who are slowly taking ground from tenacious guerrilla fighters in Helmand province.

Reports from the front continue to tell of painstaking progress through heavily mined fields and hamlets, and dogged defence by Taleban snipers.

- INDEPENDENT