Author: From Our Correspondent
Publication: www.nation.com.pk
Date: October 7, 2003
URL: http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/Oct-2003/7/main/top13.asp
United States has held first-ever
direct contact with the Taliban leadership when US Assistant Secretary
of States Richard Armitage held a meeting with the Taliban's former foreign
minister Wakeel Ahmad Mutawakal in Kandahar during his recent visit to
Afghanistan, reliable sources said Monday.
Soon after the meeting Wakeel Ahmad
Mutawakal was allowed to go home in Kandahar, the headquarters of former
Taliban regime, the sources said.
Mutawakal, the most vocal amongst
the Taliban leaders, had surrendered to US forces some time after the collapse
of Taliban regime in Kabul.
President Hamid Karzai since assuming
power in December 2001, put Wakeel Ahmad Mutawakal in his good books. Since
his surrender Mutawakal has been kept in an official complex with due respect
instead of keeping him in a lockup or in a prison.
The Afghan as well as some independent
diplomatic sources while confirming the permission for Wakeel Ahmad Mutawakal
to go home, said, now he would initiate efforts for a reconciliation between
some of his like-minded Taliban leaders and US authorities.
The main purpose of such initiatives
is to ensure return of peace and stability in Afghanistan as well as to
isolate the most wanted elements from terrorist and extremist groups.
Despite hectic efforts, no one from
Afghan diplomatic missions in Pakistan, Presidential Palace and Interior
Ministry at Kabul has confirmed either release or permission of Wakeel
Ahmad Mutawakal to home.