ISLAMABAD, Sept 21: The government freed senior Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar on Saturday to help revive the faltering Afghan reconciliation process.

“Mullah Baradar has been released,” Foreign Office spokesman Aizaz Chaudhry said. He had said on Friday that the government was releasing the Taliban leader to “further facilitate the Afghan reconciliation process”.

Officials said that Mullah Baradar was released in Pakistan and was free to go anywhere or contact anyone.

His whereabouts since his release could not be known.

A family friend contacted an Islamabad-based journalist on Saturday evening to get information about his release and said that the family had not been informed about his latest status.

Mullah Baradar is the 34th Taliban detainee to have been released by the authorities since November when the process was started. He is the most senior and apparently the most influential leader yet to have been freed.

All, except Mullah Mansoor Dadullah whose release was announced earlier this month, have rejoined their families, but have made no known contribution to the reconciliation process.

Taliban sources had expected that Mullah Dadullah would be released with Mullah Baradar.

The release of Mullah Baradar was a key demand of the Afghan government, which is expecting him to pick threads from where he had left in February 2010, at the time of his arrest, when he was believed to have been working for a political settlement with the Afghan government.

The Afghan High Peace Council (HPC) welcomed his release.

“His release will surely have a positive impact on the peace process,” HPC spokesman Shahzada Shahid was quoted by Afghan media as having said.

The Afghan government was equally pleased by the move.

President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman Aimal Faizi said: “The Afghan government welcomes Pakistan’s decision to release Mullah Baradar.”

Besides releasing Taliban detainees, Pakistan has provided safe passage to those leaders of the militant group who wanted to join the reconciliation process.

Agencies add: Mohammad Ismail Qasimyar, another member of the HPC,

praised the release, saying “we are very much hopeful that Mullah Baradar can play an important role in the peace process”.

Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, who served as foreign minister when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, also hailed Mullah Baradar’s release and cautioned Pakistan not to try to control his movements now that he is free.

“They also have to allow him contact with Taliban leaders…,” Mr Muttawakil told AP.

Not everyone agreed that Mullah Baradar’s release would contribute to peace, saying his long imprisonment had robbed him of both his influence and position in the Taliban.

“This is a very, very meager step. It will not bring peace. It is just a show,” said Mohammad Daoud Sultanzai, an Afghan political commentator and talk show host. “He doesn’t have importance among the Taliban leadership, or any other leadership that would be able to deliver anything with authority.”