Reconciliation and COIN in Afghanistan

[davidbfpo]

Positive, calculated gesture by Pakistan?

Details emerged after Afghanistan's High Peace Council met military and civilian leaders in Islamabad....seven "mid-ranking" Taliban figures had been released. It is understood that Mullah Nooruddin Toorabi, the former hardline Taliban justice minister who ordered men to grow beards, is among the names agreed for release but not Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, deputy to Mullah Omar.

Why do I use calculated? This helps:

Toorabi, notorious hardliner during the Taliban regime .....he was said to have mellowed in exile after 2001 and in 2005 met his previous colleagues in Abbottabad and Peshawar to consider making peace with Kabul. He was arrested soon afterwards.

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...e-process.html

Slightly different report:http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2...050926816.html

Somehow I doubt release actually means free to travel, just a nicer compound bungalow.