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By Zeeshan Haider and Michael Georgy

ISLAMABAD, March 1 (Reuters) – Pakistan’s detention of Afghan Taliban no. 2 Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and other prominent militant figures has raised questions about the U.S. ally’s regional intentions.

Here are some questions and answers on who has been captured and what it means.

WHO HAS BEEN ARRESTED?

Pakistan has only publicly confirmed it is holding Taliban deputy leader and military commander Mullah Baradar in the most high-profile capture of an Afghan Taliban official since the group was ousted in an American-led invasion in 2001.

Afghan government officials have said three other senior Taliban figures — Mullah Abdul Kabir, Abdul Salam and Mir Mohammad — had also recently been picked up in Pakistan.

Kabir, who had been Taliban military commander in eastern Afghanistan until the group was toppled, was the biggest catch, after Mullah Baradar. Afghan officials have said he played a major role in providing safe passage in 2001 for senior al Qaeda figures, including Osama bin Laden, who had been trapped by U.S.-led forces in the Tora Bora mountains after the Taliban fall.

Salam was the Taliban shadow governor of Kunduz Province while Mohammad served in the same job in Baghlan Province.

Pakistani media reported that Tayyab Agha Poplazai, a close aide to Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar, had also been arrested.

WHY HAS PAKISTAN ARRESTED THESE TALIBAN LEADERS?

The arrests, announced last month, came as a surprise.

Pakistan has long resisted U.S. pressure to go after Afghan Taliban who cross over the border and attack Western forces in Afghanistan, despite Islamabad’s close ties to Washington.

Pakistan sees those militants as invaluable leverage against arch-rival India’s influence in Afghanistan. And the militants could be even more critical strategic assets if U.S. forces leave Afghanistan prematurely, raising the possibility of chaos and a regional scramble for control of Afghanistan.

Analysts say Pakistan may have panicked after Afghan President Hamid Karzai began speaking of peace and reconciliation with those Taliban who renounce violence, and Pakistan rushed to make sure it had a big say in the process.

So Pakistan may have decided to grab a few high profile Taliban leaders like Baradar, who some analysts say could be used to push peace.

Some analysts have suggested Baradar might have been promoting a peace talks process that excluded Pakistan so Pakistani agents arrested him to stop that.

HAS PAKISTAN CHANGED ITS AFGHAN TALIBAN POLICY?

U.S. officials see the arrests as a change in Pakistan’s attitude, to some degree, but they think it’s too early to tell how serious the Islamabad government is about tackling Afghan Taliban groups operating from Pakistani soil.

Some analysts say the true test of Pakistan’s intentions will be whether the military hunts the Haqqani network, a powerful Afghan Taliban faction attacking Western forces in Afghanistan from bases in Pakistan’s North Waziristan border region.

WILL PAKISTAN EXTRADITE BARADAR, OTHERS TO AFGHANISTAN?

By handing over the captured Taliban leaders to Afghanistan, Pakistan would be giving up bargaining chips in any Afghan peace talks.

A Pakistan court on Friday barred the government from sending captured Afghan Taliban leaders abroad a day after Afghanistan said Pakistan had agreed to hand over Baradar. Pakistan said Baradar was being investigated for crimes in Pakistan and would be tried there in the first instance. (For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: here) (Editing by Robert Birsel and Sugita Katyal)