Detention ends: Pakistan frees kin of Afghan Taliban’s chief negotiator

Two brothers of Tayyeb Agha, head of the Taliban political office in Qatar, were picked up on May 1

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistani authorities have released two siblings of Afghan Taliban’s top negotiator after nearly five months of detention, three Taliban leaders confirmed to The Express Tribune late Friday.

The brothers of Tayyeb Agha, head of the Taliban Political Office in Qatar, had been picked up from Karachi and Quetta on May 1, according to Taliban officials.



“I can confirm that both brothers of Tayyeb Agha have been released in Quetta on Friday,” a Taliban leader, who talked to them after their release, said. Younas Agha, who had served as deputy governor of Khost province during the Taliban regime prior to the US invasion in 2001, was arrested from Karachi, where he was accompanying his ailing father. Tahir Agha, another brother of Tayyeb Agha, was picked up from his residence in Quetta.

The arrests had never been officially confirmed by the Pakistani authorities. There was no official word on their release too. Pakistan and the Taliban leaders routinely keep such sensitive matters secret.

A Taliban source had earlier said that they had been picked after ‘their contacts with an Afghan government’s official’. The Taliban had denied any such contact.

Taliban say Tayyeb’s brothers did not have any senior position in the Taliban at the time of their arrest; however, they were involved in high-level Taliban consultations.

“Younas Agha used to visit Dubai for some Taliban talks there,” a source said. They were important because of their relations with Tayyeb Agha, the Taliban leaders said.

Tayyeb Agha is still involved in the Taliban political office in Qatar and the Taliban chief Mullah Omar, in his Eidul Azha message, has said that only the Taliban political office is the channel for contact with the world.

Tayyeb Agha had served as a special assistant to the elusive Taliban spiritual leader, Mullah Omar, during the Taliban regime and he was tasked to lead the negotiations because of Mullah Omar’s trust in him.

Agha’s elder brother, father and other family members had moved to Afghanistan after Younas and Tahir’s arrests. They later proceeded to Qatar, a Taliban leader said. The Express Tribune has learnt that some Pakistani religious leaders had been involved in consultations with the authorities for their release.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2014.