The White House on Wednesday hailed the capture of the Taliban military commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar as a "big success" for joint US-Pakistani efforts to combat extremists.
"It is a big success for our mutual efforts in the region," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
Despite breaking the White House silence on the arrest, Gibbs would not give details on what kind of intelligence Baradar was providing to US and Pakistani interrogators.
But he said the capture of the number two Taliban figure, confirmed by Pakistani authorities earlier on Wednesday, was "significant."
