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Armitage contacts Taliban in Kandahar

Armitage contacts Taliban in Kandahar

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.
 


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