Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

Pakistan may release top Taliban commander: Islamabad

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 10, 2012 (AFP) - Pakistan and Afghanista­n are in talks on the release of a key member of the Taliban, whose 2010 arrest in Pakistan was blamed for sabotaging peace initiative­s, a Pakistani foreign ministry official confirmed Friday.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a powerful Taliban military chief who has been described as the militia's second in command, was arrested in Pakistan's port city of Karachi.

The Afghan government and the former UN envoy to Afghanista­n said his detention had adversely affected efforts to talk to the insurgents.

“The issue of prisoners is under discussion between the two countries,” foreign ministry spokesman Moazzam Ahmad Khan told reporters when asked to comment on Afghan demands for access to Baradar and for his release.

The spokesman did not name any prisoner or give further details, but when asked, confirmed that Baradar was still in Pakistani custody.

Baradar is the most important Tali- ban leader to be captured since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Afghan militia from power in Kabul.

He was known as a trusted aide to the Taliban's elusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

Shortly after Baradar's arrest, the Pentagon said two other Taliban officials were arrested, also understood to have been captured in Pakistan.

In March 2010, Kai Eide, the then just retired UN envoy to Afghanista­n, said the arrest of key Taliban in Pakistan had stopped a secret channel of communicat­ion between the insurgents and the United Nations.

 ??  ?? Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar

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