Afghanistan has asked Pakistan to hand over five top militant commanders imprisoned in the country. According to the government in Kabul, the militants can play a key role in Afghan for peace and reconciliation.
Adviser to the Afghan President on reconciliation and peace Affairs Muhammad Hanif Atmar recommended the names on the sidelines of the 72nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York last month.
According to the adviser, he had handed over a list to Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif comprising 35 commanders, five of whom have a say in the Taliban Shura and could play a role for peace in war-ravaged Afghanistan.
Another Afghan interior ministry official present at the Kabul meeting revealed names of the five commanders, including co-founder of Afghan Taliban Mullah Ghani Baradar, senior members of the so-called Quetta Shura Mullah Ahmadullah Nani, Mullah Sammad Sani, and Mullah Suliman Agha who was arrested from a seminary in Quetta’s Satellite Town along with four others on October 11, 2014.
The two sides had agreed in principle to ink an agreement in the next session in Islamabad to exchange prisoners jailed on either side of the border.
Who is Mullah Baradar?
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar also called Mullah Baradar Akhund or Mullah Brother, is a co-founder of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan. He was the deputy of Mullah Mohammed Omar. Baradar was captured in Pakistan by a team of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers in February 2010.
After helping found the Taliban movement in 1994, Mullah Baradar developed a profile as a military strategist and commander.
A key Taliban operative, he was believed to be in day-to-day command of the insurgency and its funding.
He held important responsibilities in nearly all the major wars across Afghanistan, and remained top commander of Taliban's formation in the western region (Herat) as well as Kabul. At the time the Taliban were toppled he was their deputy minister of defence.
"His wife is Mullah Omar's sister. He controlled the money. He was launching some of the deadliest attacks against our security forces," an Afghan official who did not want to be named told the BBC at the time of his arrest.
Mullah Baradar, like other Taliban leaders, was targeted by UN Security Council sanctions, which included the freezing of assets, a travel ban and an arms embargo.
The Afghan government was reportedly holding secret talks with Baradar, and his arrest is said to have infuriated President Hamid Karzai. Despite repeated claims that Pakistan would deliver Baradar to Afghanistan if formally asked to do so, and that his extradition was underway, he was expressly excluded from the list of Taliban leaders planned to be released by Pakistan in November 2012.
Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir became the Taliban military leader after Baradar's arrest. Nine Taliban leaders, not including Baradar, were released on November 23, 2012.
On 21 September 2013, Pakistan Government released Mullah Baradar to facilitate the Afghan Peace process. According to the special adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz, "He will be released inside Pakistan and will not be handed over to Afghanistan". The Afghan Government lauded the release as it would pave the way for negotiation.