ISLAMABAD: The Afghan Taliban confirmed on Wednesday evening that Pakistan had released its senior leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was captured in a joint operation conducted by American and Pakistani intelligence officials in Karachi in 2010.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Arab News that Baradar, the group’s former deputy chief, “has rejoined his family after he was released on Wednesday afternoon”.
Abdul Samad, another Taliban leader, was also released along with Baradar, the group said.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal did not respond to a query seeking details about the Taliban leader’s release.
However, representatives from the group, while speaking to Arab News, said that Baradar’s release was one among several topics discussed during the meetings between American and Taliban officials in Doha, Qatar earlier this month.
“The Islamic Emirate has always called for the release of prisoners, removal of the names of our leaders from the UN Security Council’s sanctions list and the opening of the office in Qatar before the beginning of the official negotiations with the United States,” another Taliban official told Arab News.
Taliban officials who have worked with Baradar say Mullah Omar had once told the group’s leaders that Baradar would replace him after his death. Baradar had been appointed as the deputy chief by Omar.
Pakistan freed nearly 40 Afghan Taliban leaders in 2013 and early 2014 on the request of former Afghan President Hamid Karzai to encourage them to join the peace process. However, none of the freed Taliban representatives had joined the reconciliation process or ensuing talks with the Afghan government.
Earlier on Monday, Mujahid had told Arab News that media reports citing Baradar’s release were untrue.
Senior leader Mullah Baradar is free, Afghan Taliban say
Senior leader Mullah Baradar is free, Afghan Taliban say
- Representatives say former deputy chief has “rejoined his family”
- Pakistan releases key official following talks between militant group and the US
Four killed in Ukraine as Moscow and Kyiv exchange drone strikes
- Kyiv said Russian drone strikes had killed two people and wounded seven more in Kharkiv
- Synegubov said two people had been killed in the attack on the Shevchenkivsky district
KHARKIV, Ukraine: Russian and Ukrainian drone strikes killed at least four people Wednesday, officials said, as the war between the neighbors dragged on for more than four years with no diplomatic breakthrough in sight.
The latest attacks came with a third round of three-party talks derailed by the war in the Middle East, despite pressure from Washington on both sides to agree to an elusive peace deal.
Kyiv said Russian drone strikes had killed two people and wounded seven more in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which lies close to the Russian border, was encircled at the beginning of Russia’s invasion four years ago.
It has been attacked almost daily since Moscow’s forces were pushed back later in 2022.
The governor of the wider region, Oleg Synegubov, said two people had been killed in the attack on the Shevchenkivsky district.
“A civilian enterprise caught fire as a result of the enemy strike,” he said, adding that three women and four men had been hospitalized.
Another Russian drone wounded 20 people in the afternoon, after hitting a civilian minibus in the southeastern city of Kherson, Ukrainian prosecutors said.
In the Russian-occupied part of the southern Zaporizhzhia region, Moscow-installed authorities said two civilians had been killed in their car by a Ukrainian drone strike on the frontline town of Vasylivka.
“The danger of repeated strikes remains,” Kremlin-appointed governor Yevgeny Balitsky said.
