Karzai due in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: Afghan President Hamid Karzai is scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on Wednesday on a two-day visit and is likely to formally ask Islamabad to hand over Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar for trial in Afghanistan.

Baradar, the second most senior leader of the Afghan Taliban, was arrested last month by security agencies from Karachi and both the US and Afghanistan have expressed a desire to get hold of him.

Diplomatic sources said Karzai would explore the possibilities of extradition of Baradar to his country in an attempt to boost his sinking popularity over the war against Taliban, which many consider a lost cause.

They said the Afghan government had also expressed the desire to conduct Baradar’s trail in their country during a meeting of the interior ministers of the two countries in Islamabad last month. Interior Minister Rehman Malik assured his Afghan counterpart Muhammad Hanif Atmar that Pakistan would “consider” any formal request by Afghanistan.

The situation has changed since then as a Pakistani court banned handing over Mullah Baradar to a foreign country. But sources said Pakistan could strike a deal by asking Afghanistan to help bring Dr Aafia back, who was handed over to the US by Afghanistan for trial.

Born in Wetmak village in the southern Uruzgan province of Afghanistan into an ethnic Pashtun Popalzai clan in 1968, a young Baradar struck up a friendship with Mullah Omar that would “change his life”. His arrest dealt a serious blow to the Taliban and handing him over to the Afghan authorities would be a morale booster for their forces.

Reintegration: Sources said Karzai would also seek Pakistan’s assistance in stepping up the process of reintegration and reconciliation with the Taliban, after Saudi Arabia refused to play any role in arranging a “deal” with Taliban.

During the London Conference on January 28, Karzai openly asked Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to help secure peace with the Taliban. He later paid a visit to the kingdom to meet King Abdullah in this regard, but Abdullah refused to be “dragged into the mess”.