BREAKING NEWS

Pakistan plans to free former Taliban second-in-command this month

By REUTERS

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 16:52

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan plans to free former Afghan Taliban second-in-command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, this month to help advance peace efforts in neighboring Afghanistan, Pakistan's foreign policy chief said on Tuesday.

The United States and Afghanistan have long pressed Pakistan to free Baradar and other senior Taliban figures who could be used to tempt moderate Taliban leaders to the negotiating table and transform the insurgency into a political movement.

"In principle, we have agreed to release him. The timing is being discussed. It should be very soon ... I think within this month," Sartaj Aziz, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's adviser on foreign affairs, said in an interview.

Baradar's fate is at the heart of Afghanistan's efforts to kick-start the stalled peace process as most NATO combat troops prepare to pull out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and anxiety grows over the country's security.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has spent years calling for his release because he believes Baradar is more open to dialogue than many of his comrades.

Until being captured in Pakistan in 2010, Baradar was a close friend of the group's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar who gave him his nom de guerre, "Baradar" or "brother".

He was also the main day-to-day commander responsible for leading the Taliban campaign against US and NATO troops, plotting suicide bombings and other attacks.

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