A top Taliban and al Qaeda commander who operated on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border was not killed during recent airstrikes in Mohmand, a senior Taliban leader announced yesterday.

Qari Zia Rahman survived the March 5 airstrikes in the Mohmand tribal agency that reportedly killed 30 Taliban fighters, according to Faqir Mohammed, the leader of the Taliban in Bajaur and the deputy commander of the Pakistani Taliban. Faqir also claimed that Taliban commander Mohammed Fateh was still alive.

“Qari Zia and Fateh are alive, Faqir told Dawn. “We were not there. We are still in Bajaur.”

Rahman is a top Taliban and al Qaeda leader who operates in Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal agency as well as in Afghanistan’s Nuristan and Kunar provinces. Fateh is a Swat Taliban commander who is on the list of the government’s most wanted leaders in the northern district.

Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s Interior Minister, had maintained that Faqir, Qari Zia, and Fateh were killed in the March 5 helicopter strike. Malik even said that Fateh’s body was seen being pulled from the rubble after the strike, but he could not provide any evidence that the three commanders were dead.

Just three days after the attack, Faqir confirmed he was alive, and stated that he had not been present during the strike. “I’m fine. It’s just propaganda,” Faqir told a reporter on March 8.

Faqir’s statement that Qari Zia and Fateh are also alive caps a week of false reports by Pakistani officials on the death or capture of top Taliban and al Qaeda leaders. On March 7, Pakistani intelligence officials insisted that Adam Gadahn, al Qaeda’s top American-born spokesman who is wanted in the US for treason, was captured in Karachi. One day later, Pakistani officials backtracked and declared that an American named Abu Yahya Mujahdeen al Adam had been captured instead.

In today’s statement, Faqir also claimed that the Taliban did not resist a Pakistani Army advance into Bajaur as there was a deal in place, and he said the Bajaur Taliban will reignite the insurgency there.

“We abdicated our positions and chose not to fight with security forces following an understanding that our people will not be harmed,” he said. “But the government appears to be continuing with its repressive policies. We will have no other option but to resume our attacks if such policies are not reversed.”

Faqir’s claim tracks with reports that the Taliban were upset with him for failing to oppose a military advance in Bajaur. On Jan. 30, Dawn reported that Faqir had been asked to step down by the Bajaur Taliban shura and had been replaced by Maulana Mohammad Jamal [see LWJ report, “Suicide bomber kills 17 Pakistanis in Bajaur“].

Since taking over the Taliban stronghold of Damadola on March 2, the Pakistani military has asserted that it is now in full control of the Bajaur tribal agency. The military made an identical claim a year ago, on March 1, 2009.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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