Word: muttawakil
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Toward that end, Noorzai says, he played a critical role in delivering up the Taliban Foreign Minister, who had fled, like much of the leadership, to Quetta following the invasion. In February 2002, Mullah Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil's surrender made headlines around the world. Noorzai says he had invited his childhood friend to talk to the Americans, believing him to be the sort of "moderate" that Washington was seeking to work with. Noorzai says, however, that this would lead to his first betrayal by the Americans. Instead of incorporating his friend into the Afghan government, the Americans took Muttawakil...
...Afghanistan. But this has not dissuaded Afghan President Hamid Karzai from beginning discreet talks with moderates in the Taliban ranks. The unprecedented talks, which began last week, seem to have the Bush Administration's blessing. Karzai's mediator to the Taliban is its former Foreign Minister Mullah Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, who was released last Monday after 20 months in custody at a U.S. military base near Kabul...
...Muttawakil remains close to his former captors. His family says he stays at the U.S. base in Kandahar for his own protection. Taliban hard-liners, including former Afghan leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, consider Muttawakil a traitor for having surrendered to U.S. forces and have ordered his assassination. Still, his family tells TIME, Muttawakil has taken the risk of sounding out some of his former comrades in Kandahar...
...heavy with Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara tribal leaders--their rivals for political power. By bringing moderate Taliban onboard, Karzai hopes he can garner support among the Pashtun and split the Taliban's ranks. But the President's program could falter at the start: Karzai's advisers say Muttawakil has already declined a Cabinet post, and is considering asylum in an Arab country--possibly Qatar--far from Mullah Omar's long memory and vengeful grasp. --By Tim McGirk and Rahimullah Yusufzai
...Reports suggested a split in the Taliban leadership over the price to the Afghan people of hosting bin Laden, with moderate Foreign Minister Abdul Wakil Muttawakil keeping such a low profile that he was thought to have defected. There were also reports from southern and eastern Afghanistan that Taliban police are incensed by the arrogance of bin Laden's fighters, and have clashed with them. In Jalalabad one of bin Laden's associates died in an explosion, apparently handling a hand grenade: sources named him as Abu Baseer al-Masri...