Taliban Leader Killed in Afghanistan

The former Taliban regime's intelligence chief, Qari Amadullah, has been killed in a firefight with Afghan soldiers and US paratroopers according to a Defense Department press release.

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Aug. 11, 2005 – Taliban leader Qari Amadullah was killed during heavy fighting near the city of Wazikwa in eastern Afghanistan Aug. 9, U.S. forces confirmed today.
Amadullah was believed to have commanded up to 50 Taliban fighters in the region and was thought to be in possession of a number of weapon systems to include rockets and rocket propelled grenades.

While the Taliban was still in power, Amadullah ran the intelligence minstry which employed a vast number of child spies who dutifully reported the transgressions of their parents.

"The Taliban are using these children to inform on their parents, to tell them who their parents are supporting, and to tell them if there are weapons hidden in houses," said Fataneh Gilani, head of the Afghan Women's Society, a Peshawar-based aid agency. "But because they are children they often get things wrong. A lot of innocent people have been betrayed by children."

The Taliban have built up one of the world's most efficient spy networks, comparable to those of China or Burma. Istakh Barat, the Taliban's opaque intelligence ministry, which is run by Qari Amadullah, a cleric, is believed to employ about 20,000 spies and up to 100,000 informers, originally trained by the KHAD, Afghanistan's notorious Soviet-era spy agency.

Amadullah makes an excellent subtraction from the gene pool.

You are not on the road to Hell,
You tell me with fanatic glee;
Vain boaster, what shall that avail,
If Hell is on the road to thee?
-Saki