Baradar delivers HPC team Taliban message

KABUL Abdul Ghani Baradar in Islamabad, reports said on Friday.

In a late-night report, Pakistani news site Dawn.com quoted well-placed official sources as saying Baradar was flown to the capital from the port city of Karachi for talks with the High Peace Council (HPC) team.

In an effort to give a fresh impetus to the slow-moving reconciliation drive, the five-member delegation — led by HPC Chairman Salahuddin Rabbani — arrived in Pakistan on Nov. 19 and returned home on Thursday.

“During the meeting, which lasted almost three hours, Baradar handed a special message from the Taliban shura (council) to the delegation representing the High Peace Council,” the report added.

Detained by Pakistani intelligence agents in 2010, the former Taliban commander was released in September as part of efforts to promote the Afghan-led peace campaign. But he apparently remains under strict vigil.

Rabbani, son of slain former president Burhanuddin Rabbani who was assassinated by a Taliban bomber at his residence in Kabul, HPC Secretary-General Masoom Stanikzai and Asadullah Wafa were part of the visiting delegation.

At a meeting with the visiting team, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif agreed to visit Kabul On Nov. 30. The discussions focused on efforts for promoting reconciliation in Afghanistan.

Earlier in the day, private TV Express Tribune said the delegation had achieved its core objective of meeting Mullah Baradar.

At their trilateral summit hosted by British Premier David Cameron in London last month, Sharif had promised President Hamid Karzai to arrange the meeting between HPC officials and Baradar.

PAN Monitor/mud

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