The U.S. has given Pakistan a high-ranking Taliban official, as part of its efforts to get rid of militants held in an Afghanistan prison.
{mosads}According to Reuters, the U.S. handed over Latif Mehsud, the former No. 2 commander for Pakistan’s branch of the Taliban, to the Pakistani government, along with his two guards.
That handover comes as the U.S. works to close a prison in Afghanistan, where it can only legally hold detainees until the end of the year. U.S. authorities confirmed that it had given Pakistan three detainees, Reuters said, but would not confirm their identities.
The U.S. had held the three at a prison near the Bagram airfield, which is the country’s largest base in Afghanistan. Because the U.S. mission in Afghanistan ends at the end of the year, the U.S. will likely have to transfer the several dozen detainees still thought to be held there.
“We’re actually just going through and returning all the third-country nationals detained in Afghanistan to resolve that issue,” a U.S. embassy spokeswoman told Reuters.