Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil

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I'm good, the police provide security for me, some police forces are guarding my house.

On July 4, 2005, the BBC reported that Muttawakil spent the three years after his surrender in US detention and under Afghan house arrest. [11] Following the end of his house arrest Muttawakil took positions at odds with those of the former Taliban regime. He said he no longer opposed female education, so long as it was consistent with Afghan culture. And he said that supporting Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda had brought suffering to Afghanistan. But he still defended some other aspects of the Taliban's former policies.

Disowned by the Taliban

On October 21, 2003, the Taliban disowned Muttawakil. [12] The BBC was told by a Taliban spokesman that Muttawakil "does not represent our will".

In 2003, Muttawakil's location and status was a matter for speculation. [12] The BBC reported that he had been released from detention from the United States Bagram Theater Detention Facility.

The BBC also reports that the US was guarding him, for his own protection, at their base in Kandahar. [12] They report that aides to Muttawakil assert that the USA has given Muttawakil two choices: join the Karzai government as a spokesman and adviser to the Afghan president; or seek political asylum in a Western country. However, the aides said, Muttawakil wanted to take a break from involvement in Afghan politics, and, if he were to seek asylum, he would wish to do so in an Arab country.

Present

Muttawakil ran for parliamentary elections in September 2005. [11] [13]

W.A. Muttawakil's brother Maulvi Jalil Ahmed was for six years a Muslim cleric in the city of Quetta, Pakistan. He was killed in a shooting incident in Quetta in July 2005. [11]

Move to Kabul

An article in the German publication Der Spiegel , on April 12, 2007, about the Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, said he had moved into a "... handsome guest house, located in the dusty modern neighborhood Khosh Hal Khan." [14] The article goes on to state that the new home Karzai's government has provided Zaeef is around the corner from Muttawakil's. Der Spiegel described Zaeef's home as being guarded, inside and out, by a heavily armed security detail. Like Muttawakil, Zaeef is regarded as one of the more moderate former members of the Taliban.

Saudi peace talks

During Ramadan in 2008, there were rumors that Saudi King Abdullah was attempting to broker peace talks between the warring parties from Afghanistan. [15] Muttawakil, former Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salem Zaeef and former Supreme Court Chief Justice Fazel Hadi Shinwari were among leading Afghan figures who met with King Abdullah.

Zaeef acknowledged being invited by Abdullah to dine with other leading Afghan figures, from the Karzai government, the Taliban, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami and other former members of the Taliban. [15] Zaeef denied this meeting should be characterized as "peace talks". He stated that none of the individuals at this meeting had been authorized to conduct negotiations. Zaeef denied anyone discussed Afghanistan at this meeting.

Sanctions

In 1999, the UN Security Council established a sanctions regime to cover individuals and entities associated with Al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden and/or the Taliban. Since the US Invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the sanctions were applied to individuals and organizations in all parts of the world, also targeting former members of the Taliban government. Muttawakil was added to this list in 2001.[ citation needed ]

On January 27, 2010, a United Nations sanctions committee removed him and four other former senior Taliban officials from this list, in a move favoured by Afghan President Karzai. The decision means he and the four others would no longer be subject to an international travel ban, assets freeze and arms embargo. [16]

See also

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References

  1. "Profile: Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil". BBC. February 9, 2002. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  2. An Enemy We Created: The Myth of the Taliban-Al Qaeda Merger in Afghanistan. Oxford University Press. 2012. p. 494. ISBN   978-0-19-992731-9.
  3. Rashid, Ahmed (2010). Taliban: The Power of Militant Islam in Afghanistan and Beyond (Rev. ed.). I.B. Tauris. p. 25. ISBN   978-1-84885-446-8.
  4. Adamec, Ludwig W. (2012). Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan (4th ed.). Scarecrow Press. ISBN   9780810879577.
  5. Kate Clark (2002-09-07). "Taleban 'warned US of huge attack'". BBC. Archived from the original on 2007-08-25. Retrieved 2007-01-16. An aide to the former Taleban foreign minister, Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, has revealed that he was sent to warn American diplomats and the United Nations that Osama bin Laden was due to launch a huge attack on American soil.
  6. 1 2 "Taleban minister's 'peace role' mystery". BBC. October 17, 2001. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  7. "Karzai frees 300 Taleban soldiers". BBC. February 9, 2002. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  8. "U.S. begins questioning Taliban foreign minister". CBC News. February 10, 2002. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  9. "Taliban prisoner claims sex abuse in Afghan jail". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. July 28, 2002. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  10. "Confusion over 'freed' Taleban figure". BBC. October 8, 2003. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  11. 1 2 3 "Ex-Taleban chief's brother killed". BBC. July 4, 2005. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
  12. 1 2 3 "Taleban 'turn on ex-minister'". BBC. October 21, 2003. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  13. "Ex-Taleban chief to run in polls". BBC. May 18, 2005. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  14. Olaf Ihlau (April 12, 2007). "Ex-Taliban Official Calls for Unity Government in Afghanistan". Der Spiegel . Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  15. 1 2 "Taliban and Afghan officials break bread". The Age. 2008-10-07. Archived from the original on 2009-03-25. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
  16. ""U.N. Reconciles itself to Five Members of Mulla Omar's Cabinet"". Archived from the original on 2013-05-20. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil
Foreign Minister of Afghanistan
In office
27 October 1999 October 2001