KABUL, Oct 1: A senior commander of the Taliban-allied Haqqani network in Afghanistan who is also the uncle of its leader has been captured, the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force said on Saturday.

The announcement of Haji Mali Khan’s capture comes as the US steps up pressure on Pakistan to act against the Haqqanis, linked to Al Qaeda and blamed for a string of attacks on western targets.

The retiring chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, recently charged the group was a ‘veritable arm’ of Pakistan’s intelligence service.

“Security forces detained Haji Mali Khan, uncle of Siraj and Badruddin Haqqani and the senior Haqqani commander in Afghanistan,” Isaf said.

Mali Khan was captured close to Afghanistan’s porous border with Pakistan in Paktia province on Tuesday, it added, hailing the detention as ‘a significant milestone’ in disrupting Haqqani operations.

“He reportedly worked directly under Siraj Haqqani, and managed bases and had oversight of operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Isaf said.

“Mali Khan moved forces from Pakistan to Afghanistan to conduct terrorist activity. Jalaluddin Haqqani consistently placed Mali Khan in positions of high importance.”

The Haqqani network was founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a warlord who made his name during the 1980s jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan, when he received funding from CIA and Pakistan.

Haqqani is a member of the Taliban’s supreme council but his son Sirajuddin now effectively runs the network.

Isaf said that Mali Khan had acted as an emissary between the Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud and Haqqani leaders.

Mehsud was killed by a US drone strike in Pakistan in 2009.A spokesman for Afghanistan’s intelligence agency the National Directorate of Security, Lutfullah Mashal, confirmed the capture but gave different details of his relationship with the network’s leader.

“We know that he is a member of Sirajuddin Haqqani’s family but we are not sure if he is the immediate cousin. He is maybe the cousin of Sirajuddin Haqqani’s cousin,” he said.

“I am not sure if he was really an active Haqqani commander,” he added, referring media queries back to Isaf.

A senior western security source said the name of Haji Mali Khan was not familiar as that of a leading militant figure.—AFP