Islamabad has admitted the existence of “Quetta Shura” but has said the security forces had taken on them and damaged it to such an extent that it no longer posed any threat.

However, until this admission by Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar, the government has been denying the existence of any Taliban leadership or the Quetta Shura in Balochistan capital Quetta, DawnNews reported.

The top US Commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, had informed last Friday, the US fears the top Taliban leadership was in Quetta — Balochistan province’s capital — master-minding attacks on international forces in Afghanistan.

Confirming McChrystal’s allegations, the US consul-general in Peshawar said the same day that they do not know where Osama bin Laden is, but said, "We do know that some of the al-Qaeda leadership is sitting in Quetta and that they travel back and forth from Afghanistan to Pakistan."

"We know that they are there. And I think your government also knows this. Whether they want to say this in public or not but I think they know they are there," Candace Putnam added.

In an exclusive interview to DawnNews TV, Ahmed Mukhtar also said that the Shamsi airbase in Balochistan was being used by American forces for logistical purposes but the government was not satisfied with the payments for the use of the facility.

Mukhtar said the US was also using the Jacobabad Airbase and Pasni for its operations in Afghanistan.  (MAMOSA)