Pakistan struggles to identify Taliban

"We haven't seen anything that will give us the sense that these are Taliban. They are simple Afghans. All have long beards and turbans. He's not carrying any rockets," says Muhammad Amer, a hospital administrator. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which referred the men from Afghanistan, also says there is no way to confirm if the men are Taliban. Paul Fruh, ICRC's head of office in Quetta, adds that innocent civilians are wounded in southern Afghanistan every day – and that many of the men are afraid to seek medical help because they are often falsely accused of being Taliban.

More concrete evidence does exist, however, suggesting there are more concrete leads to follow. Mr. Yaqoob, for example, referred to a recent raid on a house that uncovered materials for improvised explosive devices, which are commonly used against allied forces in Afghanistan.

"Should our entire intelligence agencies be working on this? That's probably what the Western world wants. But there are other problems in this country," Yaqoob says.

Local residents take exception to this stance, saying anyone who has lived for a long time in Quetta knows where the Taliban and its commanders live.

"You can usually make out these people. They have very costly vehicles," says Tahir Mohammed Khan, a former federal information minister and now a human rights activist. "They're moving around openly. I know them in a social context."

Like many others, Mr. Khan could not provide specific names or addresses, but he listed the general areas where the Taliban dwell: Pashtunabad, a bustling enclave with narrow lanes, and also the adjoining Satellite Town. Local journalists also pinpoint Eastern Bypass, a sprawling brick warren on the outskirts of town.

Yaqoob, the police chief, maintained that his force always seizes upon actionable intelligence. In October 2005, police arrested the Taliban's chief spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi, who they said had been living in Quetta.

Although it is difficult to assess precisely how many people have taken up arms to fight, there is no shortage of sympathy for the Taliban here.

"I'm not asking anyone to take part in [the war in Afghanistan]. But we have an ideology; we support those people who have a right to fight against foreign invasion. If someone decided to go, I would support him," says Hafeez Fazal Mohammed Barech, Quetta president of Jamiat Ulema-e Islam, a hard-line Islamist party. His remarks seem to be typical of the Pashtuns living in Quetta, who constitute a majority of the city's 2 million residents. Mr. Barech, however, denied that madrassahs like his organization's provide militant training.

Around dinner tables and in drawing rooms, many residents of Quetta suggest that theirs is becoming a captured city. "The whole of the city, by its attitude, is Talib," says Mr. Khan, the activist. "Their thinking, their culture, everything is like the Taliban."

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