The news of his capture in Pakistan is a pretty big deal.
Among the reasons:
Next to Mullah Omar, Mullah Baradar was the biggest fish. It won’t be easy to replace him with someone as skilled.
He probably has a lot to tell — and the Pakistanis will not read him his Miranda rights.
It’s significant that the ISI, Pakistani intelligence, decided to cooperate with us and capture him. They’ve been ambivalent at best about the Afghan Taliban (which they separate from the Pakistani Taliban).
Mullah Baradar may know where Osama bin Laden is or at least have information that could help find him. (I’m assuming the Pakistanis don’t know already — not sure that’s true. I don’t think Osama is living in a cave. I think he’s in a quite comfortable villa.
Also interesting that Baradar was captured in Karachi — a major Pakistani city (which I visited just a few months ago — and which is a very dangerous place). But this proves once again that it’s not just the wild and wooly tribal areas that are infested with terrorists.