"Mullah Baradar has been released from the custody of government of Pakistain. Due to security issues, however, security has been provided for him so he can go to Afghanistan and talk with the leaders and elders of the Taliban," said Mahmood Shah, a retired Pak Army officer.
The news comes a week after the Taliban claimed Baradar remained in Pak military custody, in contradiction to what had been promised by the Pak government in an attempt to contribute to a reconciliation deal between Kabul and the myrmidon group.
"Mullah Baradar is an important person and Americans didn't wanted him to be released unconditionally," Rahimullah Yousufzai, a Pak political expert told TOLOnews. "The Americans had made it clear they didn't want him released, but even if he was to be released, steps needed to be taken so that he would be followed all the time, to prevent him from joining the Taliban again."
Kabul has been pushing for Baradar's release since late August, when President Hamid
Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a
Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
visited Islamabad to recruit newly elected Pak Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
to help get the grinding of the peace processor with the Taliban back on track after it derailed in June. Despite U.S. anxieties about the release of Baradar and other imprisoned Death Eaters, officials in Afghanistan have been confident that freeing former Death Eaters would serve peace talks well by providing a sign of good will to the Taliban and making available key leaders who would otherwise be unable to participate in them.
Since Pak government officials announced they would go ahead with the release of Baradar back in September, however, speculations about whether or not it would be done, or if so with what conditions attached, have abounded.
"Our position is this: Mullah Abdul Ghani has been released and anyone member of his family can see him," Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhary, a front man for Pakistain's Foreign Ministry told TOLOnews in a phone interview. "He was released in order to facilitate the Afghan reconciliation process."
Pakistain's release of Baradar, following President Karzai's trip to Islamabad, has been considered a major step toward improving relations between the estranged Kabul and Islamabad. Last week at a presser in Kabul, Karzai welcomed Pakistain's announcement about releasing the former myrmidon deputy.
The precautions taken in Baradar's release that experts have discussed, however, indicate pressure from the U.S. has played a role in the way things have unfolded.
American officials have justified their concerns by pointing to examples from the past of former Death Eaters being released by Afghan authorities upon the transition of power over detentions centers, like Bagram prison, to then only rejoin the Death Eater fight against coalition and Afghan forces.