Afghanistan ramping up diplomacy to bring in Mullah Baradar

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Following the release of Mullah Baradar from Pakistan’s incarceration, President Ghani’s administration is seen to be striving to have the top militant leader brought into Afghanistan.

It is said that Mullah Ghani Baradar was freed upon the demand of the U.S. government; while the Afghan government is expected next week to ask Pakistan hand him over.

The presidential palace has not commented on this; but, the high peace council is hoping that stakeholders in the Afghan peace process undertake constructive measures.

Some parliamentarians believe that Mullah Baradar has been freed based on a request of the Trump administration and that peace efforts will be futile if the U.S. takes an insincere course of action.

Mullah Baradar, the former right-hand man of Taliban founder Mullah Omar, was freed from Pakistani detention after more than eight years. Baradar was among several senior Taliban leaders freed this week, following talks between American diplomats and Taliban’s representatives in Qatar earlier this month on finding a negotiated settlement to the decades-old Afghan conflict. The Taliban had also demanded their release in direct talks with Khalilzad on in mid-October.

One of the founders of the Taliban movement, Mullah Baradar was arrested by Pakistani and US forces in 2010 in Karachi. At the time, he was the deputy into the Taliban.