Author:
Publication: The Times of India
Date: December 4, 2001
London (AFP) - In the first major
split, senior Taliban officials have fled Afghanistan to set up a moderate
splinter group in Pakistan, a British daily reported on Tuesday.
The dissident members believe that
hardliners such as Mullah Muhammad Omar, should give up the Taliban's spiritual
home of Kandahar and sue for peace, the Times said.
Ten of the 12 defectors escaped
to Pakistan's North West Frontier Province where the Times said they are
believed to be holding talks with Pakistani Pashtun leaders.
They will be hoping to strengthen
the Pashtun bloc in postwar Afghanistan and prevent the Tajik and Uzbek-
dominated Northern Alliance from seizing too much power.
The three most important dissidents
are Mullar Abdul Kadir, the former governor of Nangarhar province -- considered
to be the number 3 in the Taliban hierarchy -- Mullar Amir Khan Muttaqi,
the former education minister, and Abdul Rehman Zahid, the former deputy
foreign minister.
Taliban sources quoted in Pakistani
English-language paper The News and also in the Times accused the dissidents
of betrayal and treachery.
"They have deserted at a time when
Mullah Omar and other Taliban leaders are fighting in Kandahar despite
the difficulties," said one senior Taliban leader.
The other defectors according to
the paper included, Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a former Taliban representative
in New York, and Maulvi Hadi, the former governor of the eastern province
of Kunar.
The rest, listed in the papers,
were senior Taliban officials
