DOHA: Confusion reigned on Monday as to the whereabouts of Taliban foreign
minister Wakel Ahmad Mutawakel amid signs of his possible defection. The
Taliban maintained that the reports were false.
The official UAE news agency WAM reported that Mutawakel - who has not been
seen or heard from for days in Afghanistan - went to Islamabad on Sunday and
may have defected. "He may represent dissidents within the Taliban after
a row with Mullah Mohammad Omar," WAM said, quoting informed sources. The
UAE had cut off ties with the Taliban in the aftermath of the September 11
terrorist attacks in the United States.
Taliban's former charge d'affaires in Abu Dhabi, Aziz Abdurrahman, was quoted
by the Qatari channel as denying reports that the minister had defected.
"This has no impact on the unity of the Taliban," he said, adding
that the Islamic militia "is seeking mediation" by Islamic countries
with the United States.
Subsequently, Arab satellite news station Al-Jazeera reported that Mutawakel
arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) overnight seeking to push Islamic
countries to mediate with the United States, an Arab television station said
on Monday.
According to Al-Jazeera, the trip by Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel, who went to
Pakistan on Sunday, was allegedly made "in consultation" with
Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The Taliban, however, denied reports that foreign minister Wakil Ahmed
Mutawakel had left the country and said their supreme leader Mullah Mohammad
Omar was still alive. Officials of the United Arab Emirates also maintained,
that Mutawakel was not in the country. "He is not here," an official
source said.
The report came as Afghanistan's influential ex-monarch Mohammad Zahir Shah
sent a senior delegation to Pakistan for talks with President Pervez Musharraf,
sources close to the former royal family said Sunday.
But sources said the dispatch of the delegation has upset the anti-Taliban
Northern Alliance, with which the former monarch agreed on October 1 to form a
supreme council that can elect a head of state and transitional government.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell left for South Asia on Sunday in an attempt
to strike a delicate balance between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan as well
as explore options for post-Taliban Afghanistan.
With the US-led war on terrorism in Afghanistan prompting violent anti-US
protests and exacerbating India-Pakistan tensions over Kashmir, the State
Department has classified Powell's itinerary as "secret."
(Agencies)
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