Everyone knows Taliban leader Mullah Omar is in Pakistan: France

Paris, Sept 15 (ANI): Foreign Minister of France- Bernard Kouchner- has stated that the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar is based in Pakistan and everyone knows it.

"It is not a secret for anyone, everyone knows that Mullah Omar is in Quetta, if he is not now in Karachi," the Daily Times quoted Kouchner, as telling French lawmakers about Omar, and referring to the two cities in Pakistan infamous for sheltering terrorist cells.

Telling the French parliament's foreign relations committee the reason Afghanistan had called on Pakistan to help negotiate a peace deal, he reiterated, "Taliban leaders have been given shelter in Pakistan. I am not revealing anything."

Mullah Omar, thought to be the spiritual head of the Taliban regime that was overthrown in Afghanistan by US-led forces in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, is now believed to be hiding in Quetta.

He had recently declared that victory for the Taliban was imminent in Afghanistan, while the NATO-led campaign had been "a complete failure".

Back in May, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had said that there were people in the Pakistan Government who know the whereabouts of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar. (ANI)