Pakistan frees several jailed Afghan Taliban leaders

Fri Nov 16, 2012
Islamabad government has freed more than a dozen leaders of Afghan Taliban from Pakistani jails in a bid to facilitate peace process in the militancy-wracked region.


The release of at least 13 high-profile Taliban figures came days after the Pakistan government officials held talks with Afghanistan's High Peace Council in Islamabad.

The operatives who were released by Pakistani authorities included Anwar ul-Haq, a famous Taliban commander.

Sources say the freed Taliban will not be arrested under an agreement between the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has formed a peace council to lead talks with the Taliban.

The council has been making efforts to initiate dialogue with discontented Afghans and militants who have engaged in warfare with the US-led forces and Kabul's Western-backed government.

The council has expressed willingness to listen to legitimate demands by the militants.

President Karzai earlier said some Taliban leaders had already held talks with officials from the Kabul administration. No details, however, have so far been revealed about the alleged negotiations.

Top American commanders had confirmed the role of US-led foreign troops in taking Taliban leaders to Kabul for talks.

Taliban leaders has repeatedly said that the militant group will never hold talks with authorities in Kabul as long as US-led forces are present in Afghanistan.

Some US and Western officials claim that Taliban leader Mullah Omar is hiding in Pakistan's troubled northwestern tribal belt. However, senior officials in Islamabad have rejected the claim.

Omar, the founder of the Taliban, was Afghanistan's de facto head of state from 1996 to 2001. He was unseated as a result of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

The United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 under the pretext of combating terrorism.

The attack removed the Taliban from power, but the war went on to cause record-high civilian and military casualties and now, years into the invasion, insecurity rages on across the violence-scarred country. The US-led war has also become the longest military conflict in the American history.

The escalating human cost of the war is putting a great deal of pressure on NATO member states to withdraw their troops.

Source http://www.presstv.com/detail/2012/11/16/272634/pakistan-frees-jailed-taliban-leaders/