Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, captured near Karachi by a joint

U.S.-CIA operation in February 2010, has been talking with

the Afghans and by extension the United States about how

to resume talks. But some Pakistanis want their government

to extract concessions from the U.S. and allies for permitting

the talks with Baradar to take place.

U.S.-Afghan Talks with Taliban Chief Must Benefit Pakistan, and Not India (The Nation, Pakistan)

"If the U.S. and the regime it has imposed on Afghanistan derive any benefit from talking to Taliban number two Mullah Biradar, Pakistan should ensure that it, too, benefits. In this situation, Pakistan must remain wary of India lurking in the background. Brought into Afghanistan by the Americans and the Karzai regime, both will try to provide it a role in the Afghan endgame."

EDITORIAL

August 16, 2012

Pakistan  The Nation  Original Article (English)

Photo from Ahmed Rashid's Taliban

Jalaluddin Haqqani, some time in the 1990s: A Pashtun and a fierce leader of the resistance to Soviet occupation, he now leads a pro-Taliban group of fighters who have been mounting increasingly effective attacks on U.S. and Afghan forces. The U.S. suspects that Pakistan is backing the group. CBS NEWS VIDEO: Taliban Commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar caught, Feb. 16, 2012, 00:06:34

The Afghan government has spoken to former Taliban second-in-command Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who has been in Pakistani custody since last December. Afghan National Security Adviser Rangin Spanta disclosed this to foreign reporters on Sunday. The disclosure signals that Pakistan must now play an enhanced role in the Afghan peace process, and that the Kabul government is trying to kick start a peace process that has been stalled since the breakdown of talks in Qatar. For Mullah Biradar, who is still regarded as the day-to-day commander of the Taliban, giving Kabul access to him was obviously a major step.

But even if the talks show that the U.S. is serious about finding a way out and allow it to meet its commitment to withdraw by 2014, this is no time for Islamabad to celebrate. While it may well be that releasing Mullah Biradar from Pakistani custody would enable America to open a channel of communication with the Taliban, this takes no account of whether Pakistans national interests are being met. The man is in Pakistan's custody. It should not be America's interests alone that are served. Pakistan comes in a distant third, after the U.S. and the Karzai regime, both of which would benefit from such talks.

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