Taliban Kidnap Pakistani Ambassador, Demand Dadullah In Exchange

Taliban jihadists kidnapped the Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan and issued a ransom message that basically asks for the return of newly captured Taliban leader Mansoor Dadullah.
How in the world the ambassador was traveling to Afghanistan through northwestern Pakistan by vehicle and without a security escort is beyond me, but it is interesting WHY the Taliban is willing to take this risk for Dadullah. Mansoor Dadullah was stripped by the Taliban of his leadership post in southern Afghanistan and when he was captured in Pakistan, I surmised that he was fleeing retaliation by his Taliban brothers in Afghanistan.
So I have to believe this proposed exchange is the Taliban's way of trying to keep Dadullah quiet and not singing like a bird about Taliban operations in southern Afghanistan.
I would say it is likely that Pakistan will make some kind of concession here - they've been more than willing to appease lately but it is my hope that Dadullah is injured enough from his capture the other day that it won't be possible. Dadullah holds many secrets and it's time he starts to spill his guts (not literally, of course....haha).

Full story is here from TheLongWarJournal.

Taliban kidnap Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan, demand release of Mansoor Dadullah
By Bill Roggio
February 12, 2008 10:21 AM

On the same day Pakistani security forces captured the former Taliban commander of southern Afghanistan, the Taliban retaliated by kidnapping Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan. The Taliban have offered to release Ambassador Tariq Azizuddin in exchange for Mansoor Dadullah.
Ambassador Azizuddin went missing yesterday after traveling from Peshawar to Kabul. He has been reported to have been kidnapped in the town of Jamrood in the Khyber tribal agency as he was traveling to Afghanistan. Ambassador Azizuddin is said to have traveled "without taking a security escort,"

"Local Taliban" have claimed responsibility for Azizuddin's kidnapping and have demanded the release of Mansoor Dadullah as a condition to set the ambassador free. Mansoor was captured by Pakistani forces yesterday along with five other Taliban fighters in the district of Zhob in Baluchistan province. Mansoor was the former Taliban commander of forces in southern and southwestern Afghanistan before he was relieved of his command by Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Dadullah was fired after he "carried out activities which were against the rules of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," Omar said in a statement.

The kidnapping of Azizuddin and the capture of Mansoor occurs just days after the military halted operations in South Waziristan and the Taliban declared a cease-fire in the tribal regions and the settled district of Swat. The new Pakistani interior minister ordered the formation of a peace jirga, or committee, to negotiate with the Taliban.