Mullah Baradar was secretly released on Friday
- September 21, 2013, 6:51 pm
- National News
- 51 Views
Islamabad, Sept 21 (Online): Taliban commander was released on Friday but his release was kept secret due to security concern, local media quoting sources reported on Saturday.
According to reports, Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was released on early Friday morning but his release was kept secret due to security concern.
The sources said that news of Mullah Baradar will be released today (Saturday) as authorities wanted to make it sure that the Taliban commander reach a safe location.
Earlier, Pakistan s Foreign Ministry had said that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Afghan Taliban s former deputy leader, would be freed on Saturday
His release bring to 34 the number of Taliban detainees that Pakistan has freed since last year, in what Afghan officials hope will encourage peace talks with Taliban insurgents.
Baradar was arrested from Karachi, reportedly in a secret raid by CIA and Pakistani agents, an operation that was described as a huge blow to the Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan until a US-led invasion in 2001.
At the time of his arrest Baradar was reported to have been the Taliban s second-in-command, the right hand man of the Afghan Taliban s supreme commander Mullah Omar.
He was the most senior member of the Taliban held after US-led troops invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, bringing down the Islamist regime.
A mid-level Afghan Taliban official told foreign news agency that Baradar s release will not have any effect on current Afghan situation.
"Baradar s (release) won t change anything: he will be just a simple guy with no position in the Taliban network," he said.
