Pakistan To Free Senior Afghan Taliban Leader Today

Islamabad, Sept 21, IRNA – Pakistan has announced that senior Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar will be released on Saturday. Baradar, number two in the Taliban hierarchy, was arrested in the Pakistani port city of Karachi in February 2010. Afghan President Hamid Karzai had demanded Baradar’s release during his visit to Pakistan late last month. “In order to further facilitate the Afghan reconciliation process, the detained Taliban leader, Baradar, would be released on September 21, 2013,” the Foreign Ministry said on Friday. Pakistan had earlier announced that Mullah Baradar will not be handed over to Afghan government and will be free to go anywhere. Baradar is one of the founding members of the Taliban and held several top military positions including deputy defense minister, corps commander in Kabul and chief of military unit in Kandahar, as well as head of five western provinces. Afghan government considers Baradar as key to the peace process however Taliban leaders are hopeful that he will remain loyal to the Taliban movement. Pakistan has so far freed 33 Afghan Taliban in ten months on the request of the Afghan government and the Afghan High Peace Council./end