News / International
Pakistan releases top Taliban prisoner
21 Sep 2013 at 00:36hrs | Views
Mullah Baradar - File photo
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan released its most senior Afghan Taliban detainee, Abdul Ghani Baradar on Saturday, a senior official of the interior ministry told AFP.
"Yes Baradar has been released," Omar Hamid, a spokesman for interior ministry told AFP, without elaborating.
In order to further facilitate the Afghan reconciliation process, the detained Taliban leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, would be released on 21 September 2013, the Foreign Ministry had said in a statement issued on Friday.
Moreover, Pakistan's top official on foreign affairs and national security Sartaj Aziz had earlier said that Baradar would be released as soon as this month.
"Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar will be freed into Pakistan and he will remain in the country until he decides himself to move anywhere he deems necessary to initiate the peace process," Aziz told Dawn.com on Monday.
Aziz, however, added that the former Taliban second-in-command will not be handed over to Afghanistan. "Handing over the key Taliban commander to Afghanistan will sabotage the purpose behind the decision of releasing him," he said.
However, the Taliban's spokesman in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid said they could not yet confirm the release.
"We only heard through the media that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar will be released. We have not received any official confirmation about his release," Mujahid told AFP in Kabul.
Born in 1968 in the southern province of Uruzgan, Mullah Baradar fought the occupying Soviet forces in the late 1980s before becoming one of the founding members of the Taliban movement.
When the Taliban took over in Kabul in 1996 after years of civil war, the young Baradar was a trusted friend of Mullah Omar and rose to become the movement's top military strategist.
After the fall of the Taliban, senior militants fled across the border to rear bases in Pakistan, where Mullah Baradar became a member of the so-called Quetta Shura, the movement's ruling council. He was arrested in the country's southern port city of Karachi, reportedly in a secret raid by CIA and Pakistani agents, in an operation that was described as a huge blow to the Taliban.
Meanwhile, the Afghan government had earlier welcomed Pakistan's announcement regarding release of Abdul Ghani Baradar, saying the move would help peace efforts after 12 years of war.
"We welcome that this step is being taken," Aimal Faizi, spokesman for Afghan president Hamid Karzai had told AFP.
"We believe this will help the Afghan peace process. This is something we have been calling for a long time. It was on the agenda when the president visited Pakistan, so we are pleased."
Karzai made a two-day trip to Pakistan last month in a bid to overcome a series of public rows that have hampered efforts to end the war in Afghanistan as US-led Nato combat troops withdraw.
During the visit, the Afghan president had urged Pakistan to help arrange peace talks between his government and the Taliban.
Elements of the Pakistani state are widely accused of funding, controlling and sheltering the Taliban, but Islamabad says it will do anything to stop the fighting in Afghanistan.
"Yes Baradar has been released," Omar Hamid, a spokesman for interior ministry told AFP, without elaborating.
In order to further facilitate the Afghan reconciliation process, the detained Taliban leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, would be released on 21 September 2013, the Foreign Ministry had said in a statement issued on Friday.
Moreover, Pakistan's top official on foreign affairs and national security Sartaj Aziz had earlier said that Baradar would be released as soon as this month.
"Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar will be freed into Pakistan and he will remain in the country until he decides himself to move anywhere he deems necessary to initiate the peace process," Aziz told Dawn.com on Monday.
Aziz, however, added that the former Taliban second-in-command will not be handed over to Afghanistan. "Handing over the key Taliban commander to Afghanistan will sabotage the purpose behind the decision of releasing him," he said.
However, the Taliban's spokesman in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid said they could not yet confirm the release.
"We only heard through the media that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar will be released. We have not received any official confirmation about his release," Mujahid told AFP in Kabul.
When the Taliban took over in Kabul in 1996 after years of civil war, the young Baradar was a trusted friend of Mullah Omar and rose to become the movement's top military strategist.
After the fall of the Taliban, senior militants fled across the border to rear bases in Pakistan, where Mullah Baradar became a member of the so-called Quetta Shura, the movement's ruling council. He was arrested in the country's southern port city of Karachi, reportedly in a secret raid by CIA and Pakistani agents, in an operation that was described as a huge blow to the Taliban.
Meanwhile, the Afghan government had earlier welcomed Pakistan's announcement regarding release of Abdul Ghani Baradar, saying the move would help peace efforts after 12 years of war.
"We welcome that this step is being taken," Aimal Faizi, spokesman for Afghan president Hamid Karzai had told AFP.
"We believe this will help the Afghan peace process. This is something we have been calling for a long time. It was on the agenda when the president visited Pakistan, so we are pleased."
Karzai made a two-day trip to Pakistan last month in a bid to overcome a series of public rows that have hampered efforts to end the war in Afghanistan as US-led Nato combat troops withdraw.
During the visit, the Afghan president had urged Pakistan to help arrange peace talks between his government and the Taliban.
Elements of the Pakistani state are widely accused of funding, controlling and sheltering the Taliban, but Islamabad says it will do anything to stop the fighting in Afghanistan.
Source - AFP
