Pakistan military confirms Taliban leader's arrest

Pakistan's military have confirmed the arrest of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a senior member of the Afghan Taliban who has been described as the militia's second-in-command.



"At the conclusion of detailed identification procedure, it has been confirmed that one of the persons arrested happens to be Mullah Baradar," the military said in a brief statement.

"Place of arrest and operational details cannot be released due to security reasons," it added, giving no further information.

The New York Times and other US media, citing unnamed officials, reported Tuesday that US and Pakistani spies detained Baradar in Pakistan's sprawling port city of Karachi "several days ago" and that he was being interrogated.

Analysts have said his arrest could signal a watershed in Washington's bid to persuade Pakistan to move aggressively against Islamist militants operating on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border.


Share

1 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AFP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world