Mullah Omar, the Deceased Leader of the Taliban, Lived Near a U.S. Military Base

Bette Dam, a Dutch journalist and author, states in her new book titled 'In Search of an Enemy' that Mullah Mohammad Omar, the fugitive leader of the Taliban, was never hidden in Pakistan as believed by the U.S. and Afghan governments, but lived for years near a U.S. military base in southern Afghanistan. Dam conducted five years of research and interviewed several Taliban members to write the biography of Mullah Mohammad Omar, which was published last month in the Netherlands. An excerpt of this book has been published in English by the Zomia Research Institute in the U.S. The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until their government was toppled by the U.S. invasion in 2001, and since then they have continued an armed insurgency against the Afghan central government. After the terrorist attacks on U.S. cities in September 2001, which resulted in over three thousand deaths, the U.S. government set a reward of $10 million for finding or killing Mullah Mohammad Omar. According to Dam, Omar lived in Qalat, the capital of Zabul province, until 2004 when the U.S. established its base in Laghman, just a few minutes away on foot. She states that after that, Omar moved to the Shinky district, and shortly thereafter, U.S. forces established another base called Walurain five kilometers from Shinky. At the height of the Afghanistan war, the Walurain base housed over a thousand U.S. and NATO troops, but according to Dam, Omar did not change locations. Omar could not lead Taliban activities from his hideout, but it is said that he approved the establishment of the group's office in Qatar. U.S. talks with the Taliban aimed at ending the 17-year war in Afghanistan are held in Qatar. Dam was able to interview Jabbar Omari, the late Taliban leader's bodyguard during his life in hiding. Jabbar Omari, who is now in custody of the Afghan security agency, stated that Omar died on April 23, 2013, due to illness. Haroon Chakhan Sozi, a spokesperson for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, strongly rejected the claims made in this book and tweeted: 'We have sufficient and credible evidence that shows he lived and died in Pakistan.' In 2015, after the Afghan security agency announced Omar's death in a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, the Taliban confirmed the death of their leader.