Taliban kidnap gang chief released early
By Kate Clark
BBC News
A Taliban commander who was jailed for kidnapping foreigners in Kabul was released early, the BBC has learnt.
Akbar Agha was sentenced to 16 years in prison for kidnapping three UN workers in the Afghan capital in 2004. He was released from prison late last year.
His friends told the BBC he had been pardoned by President Hamid Karzai. But a spokesman said the president "could not recall the matter".
The UN staff were the first foreigners to be kidnapped in Kabul.
One was a woman from Northern Ireland, the other two were men from Kosovo and the Philippines.
Akbar Agha, who had old links with Arab radical groups, used the kidnap to launch a Taliban splinter group, Jaish-ul-Muslimeen or the Army of Muslims.
He threatened to behead the three hostages, but joint Afghan-international efforts managed to find and free them after a month.
Akbar Agha was extradited from Pakistan, put on trial in Kabul and given a long jail sentence.
The BBC has now discovered that Agha was quietly freed late last year, possibly just before the festival of Eid al-Adha in mid-November. The UN learnt about the release in August.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8606492.stm
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