ISLAMABAD, 3 March 2007 — Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, arrested in Pakistan this week, was a defense minister in the 1996-2001 Taleban government and said to head the movement’s military wing in its insurgency in Afghanistan.

Close to Taleban supremo Mullah Omar and Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, he is the most senior Taleban rebel to be captured since the movement was toppled in 2001 by a US-led coalition that is still hunting its top leaders. Reports after the ouster said Obaidullah was among several Taleban Cabinet ministers who surrendered to Northern Alliance forces but were later released by Afghan officials.

He was later brought into the insurgent movement’s core leadership, acting as its top military chief and sitting at the head of its various committees, according to a Taleban spokesman. On a US “most wanted” list and with a $1m bounty on his head, little is in the public domain about him — as with most of the men in the extremists’ shadowy top council.

More details made available yesterday said Obaidullah headed a ten-member council of Taleban’s ‘Combat Wing’.

Sources said Obaidullah and Mullah Beradar were directly taking orders and combat plans from Mullah Omar.

It’s not yet known if Obaidullah will be questioned by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies or would be sent to Bagram Air Base for questioning by the NATO/ISAF forces.

Pakistan’s security agencies have intensified their operations in Balochistan and the NWFP after US Vice President Dick Cheney’s surprise visit to the country.

An Afghan security official told AFP he had been known to be based in Quetta, where he was arrested, although a Taleban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi claimed even after news of his arrest that he was in Afghanistan.

The official and an Afghan analyst played down Obaidullah’s role, saying the real military powerhouse was Mullah Dadullah, described as the operational chief.

“Pakistan knows he was not very important but his name was big,” said analyst Wahid Mujda who believed Obaidullah was picked up to ease international pressure on Islamabad to act against Taleban leaders known to be on its soil.

A Pakistani security official nonetheless described him as “one of the highest-ranking Taleban.” “He is certainly in the top tier of the Taleban leaders and therefore we have a strong interest in him,” International Security Assistance Force spokesman Col. Tom Collins said.

In December Obaidullah spoke out against the execution of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, telling media it would galvanize the jihad or holy war against the West. He was also reportedly behind that month’s issue of 30 rules for Taleban fighters, which gave permission for killing teachers but bans the men from smoking.

An Afghan general said in December that Obaidullah last year led about 400 fighters who tried to make a stand against NATO forces in Kandahar province’s Panjwai district, from where he reportedly comes.