But the Pakistani security official said, "Baradar isn't

going anywhere anytime soon." Rabbani acknowledged that questions remain about the ability of any Taliban representatives to negotiate on behalf of a group that he says is splintered. But he said he remains an optimist. "You can't convince everyone in the opposition to join the peace process," he said, "but if you can convince a large majority, the level of violence will come down." Part of the Afghan government's goal in giving Pakistan a key role in brokering any deal was to allay enmities between the ever-suspicious neighbours. The idea was to cement their common interest in averting a civil war in Afghanistan after the US pulls out its combat troops at the end of 2014. It has not worked out exactly that way, given the friction over the prisoner releases including the fact that the peace council got only two of the four specific prisoners it asked for. The motives of the ISI in releasing hand-picked captives remains unclear, and probably deliberately so, analysts said: Was it to help the peace process, as claimed, or to keep its Taliban proxies on the field to assure Pakistan's influence in any future Afghan government? "This is not for Afghanistan, it's for Pakistan's game," said Wahid Mujda, a former Taliban government official who closely monitors peace overtures. Mujda said he doubted the releases would have any impact on negotiations because "the important people are still in jail," including Baradar. Omar, who headed the Taliban regime during its five- year rule, has conditioned negotiations on the release of five Taliban leaders held at Guantanamo Bay and a permanent withdrawal of all foreign troops.