The Afghan government was holding secret talks with the Taliban's No 2 when he was captured in Pakistan, and the arrest infuriated president Hamid Karzai, according to one of Karzai's advisers.
The detention of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar -- second in the Taliban only to one-eyed Mullah Mohammed Omar -- has raised new questions about whether the US is willing to back peace discussions with leaders who harboured the terrorists behind the September 11 attacks.
Karzai was "very angry" when he heard that the Pakistanis had picked up Baradar with an assist from US intelligence, the adviser said. Besides the ongoing talks, he said Baradar had "given a green light" to participating in a three-day peace jirga that Karzai is hosting next month.
Other Afghan officials, including Abdul Ali Shamsi, security adviser to the governor of Helmand province, also confirmed talks between Baradar and the Afghan government. Several media reports have suggested that Baradar had been in touch with Karzai representatives, but these are the first details to emerge from the discussions.
Talking with the Taliban is gaining traction in Afghanistan as thousands of US and NATO reinforcements are streaming in to reverse the insurgents' momentum.
Reconciliation was one topic Karzai and President Barack Obama discussed during a more than one-hour video conference Monday night, Karzai's office said.
Baradar's arrest has already prompted Pakistan and others to stake out their positions on possible reconciliation negotiations that could mean an endgame to the eight-year war.
Officials have disclosed little about how Baradar was nabbed last month in the port city of Karachi. The Pakistanis were said to be upset that the Americans were the source of news reports about his arrest.
The capture was part of a US-backed crackdown in which the Pakistanis also arrested several other Afghan Taliban figures along the porous border between the two countries, after years of being accused by Washington of doing little to stop them.
Far from expressing gratitude, members of Karzai's administration were quick to accuse Pakistan of picking up Baradar either to sabotage or gain control of talks with the Taliban leaders.
Whatever the reason, the delicate dance among Karzai, his neighbours and international partners put the debate over reconciliation on fast forward.
Top United Nations and British officials emphasised last week that the time to talk to the Taliban is now. The Afghan government, for its part, has plans to offer economic incentives to coax low and midlevel fighters off the battlefield. Another driving force is Obama's goal of starting to withdraw US troops in July 2011.
The US, with nearly 950 lives lost and billions of dollars spent in the war, is moving with caution on reconciliation.
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