Interior Minister: Pakistan Won’t Hand Over Taliban Captives to US

Detainees May Be Turned Over to Afghanistan, However

According to Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik, the Pakistani government will not turn over top Taliban commander Mullah Baradar or two other high profile Taliban captives to the United States.

Instead, Malik says they will hold the detainees for questioning, and to see if they can be charged with any crimes in Pakistan. If not, they will be deported to Afghanistan, where they will no doubt be charged with very serious crimes by the Karzai government.

Mullah Baradar was captured earlier this month in Karachi and is said to be Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s top adviser. He is said to have provided the Pakistani government with “useful” information.

The other two, Mullah Abdul Salam and Mullah Mir Mohammed, are reportedly the “shadow governors” of Baghlan and Kunduz Province in northern Afghanistan. They were captured last week in Balochistan.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.