ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The US military in Afghanistan has handed over three Pakistani detainees to Islamabad, including one who Pakistani intelligence officers said is a senior Taliban commander long wanted by the government.
The transfer of Latif Mehsud, a close confidante of the former head of the Pakistani Taliban, happened Saturday.
The action underlines the improving relations between the United States, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Pakistan has long demanded that Afghanistan hand over militants operating in its territory, and the issue was a source of sharp tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s former president, Hamid Karzai.
The United States did not name the prisoners, but two Pakistani intelligence officials say Mehsud was among them.
In a separate development, four Pakistani intelligence officers said a top Al Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban leader, Omar Farooq, was possibly killed in a US drone strike. Other officials denied the strike occurred.