The Taliban's top military leader captured!

Washington (CNN) -- The Taliban's top military leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, has been captured, senior U.S. and Pakistani officials told CNN.









This is a "huge deal," CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen said. "This guy ... is the number two political figure in the Taliban" to the group's founder Mullah Muhammad Omar.







Baradar, an Afghan, was arrested in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, a senior Pakistani intelligence official said. The official asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.







Baradar was a close associate of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden ahead of the September 11 attacks on the United States. Bergen said Baradar also would have been in regular contact with Omar.







American and Pakistani intelligence officials are taking part in interrogations, a senior Pakistani intelligence official said.







"The critical issue is how much will he talk and provide information on ... where the Taliban in Pakistan are and ... where Osama bin Laden is," said Robin Wright, a fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace.







Sen. John Kerry, who is in the region meeting with leaders, called the arrest a key development in U.S.-Pakistani relations.







"It is evidence of a new level of cooperation that is very, very important," said Kerry, D-Massachusetts. "It's very clear to me that the Pakistanis understand that this fight is for them, and it's a fight for everybody who is going to stand up against terrorism."







Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan, denied that Baradar has been captured. He said Baradar is continuing his operations and is still in Afghanistan.







Another Afghan Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, also denied Baradar had been arrested. He told CNN the report is intended to demoralize the Afghan Taliban during the Marjah offensive.







Some 15,000 Afghan and NATO forces are battling the Taliban in Marjah in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province in Operation Moshtarak.