Pakistan likely to release top Afghan Taliban leader

Pakistan has decided to release all Afghan Taliban prisoners including the group deputy Mullah Baradar, senior Pakistani official has said.

Pakistan’s foreign secretary, Jalil Abbas Jilani, at a news conference in Abu Dhabi said, “The remaining detainees, we are coordinating, and they will be released subsequently.”

To a question that if Mullah Baradar would be among those to be released, he said: “The aim is to release all,” without elaborating further.

Jilani was speaking after meeting the acting US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, David Pearce, and Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Luddin at the Afghan embassy in Abu Dhabi.

Luddin told reporters the purpose of the meeting was to discuss “security and political dimensions of bilateral relationships” between the three countries.