Pakistan Frees Former Taliban Officials to Promote Afghan Peace
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Pakistan released eight more members of Afghanistan’s Taliban movement, including former regional governors and ministers, as it bids to help create conditions for substantial negotiations with insurgents.
Those freed from detention included Abdul Bari, former governor of southern Helmand province, ex-justice minister Nooruddin Turabi, and Mullah Daud Jan, former governor of Kabul, the foreign office said in a statement last night. U.S. forces ousted the Taliban government led by Mullah Mohammad Omar in 2001. Omar is believed is based in Pakistan. Former deputy leader and top military commander Abdul Ghani Baradar, detained in 2010 in Karachi, was not among those released.