Top Taliban commander arrested, Pakistan army confirms

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistani army confirmed Wednesday that Taliban’s top commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was captured in a joint raid by the US and Pakistani intelligence in Karachi.

“At the conclusion of detailed identification procedures, it has been confirmed that one of the persons arrested happens to be Mullah Baradar,” chief army spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said.

“The place of arrest and operational details cannot be released due to security reasons,” Abbas said in a release here.

The Pakistani military said the Afghan Taliban’s No 2 leader was providing useful intelligence that was being shared with the US, the DawnNews reported Wednesday.

The official confirmation about his arrest came for the first time since the New York Times reported Monday that the militant leader was captured several days ago.

Mullah Baradar has been in Pakistani custody for several days, with American and Pakistani intelligence officials both taking part in interrogations, the New York Times said quoting unnamed officials.

However, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Tuesday that the Times report was a “propaganda”.

“If the New York Times gives information, it is not a divine truth, it can be wrong. We have joint intelligence sharing and no joint investigation, nor joint raids,” Malik said.

“We are a sovereign state and hence will not allow anybody to come and do any operation. And we will not allow that. So this (report) is propaganda.”

Baradar is considered the second most influential leader after Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban’s founder, and a close associate of Osama bin Laden before the Sep 11 attacks.