Aref Karimi—AFP
Foreign ministry statement claims senior leaders were freed to facilitate peace process in Afghanistan.
Pakistan on Saturday announced the release of seven senior Afghan Taliban figures to help the peace process in war-torn Afghanistan, the foreign ministry said.
“In order to further facilitate the Afghan reconciliation process, Pakistan is releasing seven Taliban detainees namely Mansoor Dadullah, Said Wali, Abdul Manan, Karim Agha, Sher Afzal, Gul Muhammad and Muhammad Zai,” it said in a statement. “These releases are in addition to 26 Taliban detainees released during the last year,” it added.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged Pakistan to help arrange peace talks between his government and the Taliban during a visit to Islamabad last week to meet new Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Infuriated by the opening in June of a Taliban office in Qatar, considered a precursor towards talks with U.S. officials, Karzai wants Pakistan to help open dialogue with the insurgents.
But analysts doubt whether Pakistan has the influence to force the Taliban to the negotiating table—and the insurgents have publicly refused all contact with Karzai’s government, branding it a U.S. puppet.
Karzai said Afghanistan expected Pakistan to provide “opportunities or a platform for talks between the Afghan High Peace Council”—Kabul’s official negotiators—and the Taliban.
In the past, the Afghan leader has identified Taliban havens in Pakistan as the main cause of increased violence in his country.
Afghan government peace negotiators accompanying Karzai had called for the release of the most senior Taliban figure detained in Pakistan, former deputy leader Abdul Ghani Baradar. Afghan officials believe former detainees may talk to the Kabul government, although observers say there is little evidence those hopes have been realized.
Among the latest releases of Afghan prisoners, Dadullah is a senior militant commander who was captured by Pakistani security forces in February 2008 in Balochistan province with at least five other rebels. Dadullah had been in charge of operations against NATO and U.S.-led troops in the southern Afghan province of Helmand.
Dadullah had succeeded his elder brother—the Taliban’s overall military commander Mullah Dadullah—who was killed in a joint Afghan-NATO operation in southern Afghanistan in May 2007.
The Taliban said in late December that they had sacked Mansoor Dadullah because he disobeyed orders. But a spokesman for the commander denied that he was fired, leading to speculation about infighting among the rebels.
Dadullah was one of five Taliban who were freed in May 2007 in exchange for kidnapped Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo.
Elements of the Pakistani state are widely accused of funding, controlling and sheltering the Taliban. Islamabad says publicly it will do anything to stop the fighting in Afghanistan.