Khalid Sheik Mohammed was nabbed at the home of a parliamentary official. This week’s arrest of Al Qaeda’s third-in-command was at once a tremendous coup for Pakistan’s oft-maligned government and also a stunning embarrassment.
Officials here are quick to brag that local security forces nabbed Khalid Sheik Mohammed, along with another senior Al Qaeda leader, on their own. What they aren’t crowing about is that Mr. Mohammed’s arrest exposes a link between Al Qaeda and Pakistan’s largest Islamic political party, Jamaat-e Islami. The emerging connection highlights the political risks the Pakistani government faces as it hunts Al Qaeda leaders. It also implies a greater order of difficulty in rooting them out if thousands of Jamaat party members are willing to harbor terrorists in their homes. Ahmed Abdul Qadoos, a Jamaat party member, was arrested alongside the two Al Qaeda terrorists. They had been holed up in the home of his mother, Farzana Qadoos, who is an elected district counselor for the conservative Islamic party. Full Story