Taliban: Pakistan frees senior figure

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has freed senior Afghan Taliban figure Ahmadullah Muti, alias Mullah Nanai, after nearly 17 months’ detention.
A senior Taliban member said on Saturday night “I can confirm the release of Mullah Nanai,” the member told Arab News, adding that he was released due to his “poor health.”
However, Zabihullah Mujahid, The spokesman for the Afghan Taliban said that he can not confirm nor deny this news, “at this stage, we can not comment on this news,” Zabihullah told Arab news.
A source at the Ministry of Interior, who requested anonymity told Arab News that Mullah Nanai was released last month, “as part of efforts to facilitate reconciliation and peace process in Afghanistan.” he added that ” Pakistan is doing its best to bring the Taliban to the negotiation table and release of Nanai is part of this effort.”
In January this year, Taliban political envoys held talks with Pakistani officials on the prospects for peace talks.
In September 2017, Afghan National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar said Kabul wanted the repatriation of five Afghan Taliban leaders detained by Pakistan, including Muti, in exchange for Pakistani Taliban leader Mufti Khalid, who was arrested after the group’s brutal attack on the army public school in Peshawar in 2014.
Muti, a member of the Taliban’s powerful Rehbari Shoura (leadership council), was the intelligence chief of Taliban during its regime before 2001. He was arrested by Pakistani security forces in Balochistan province in October 2016.