Afghanistan Times
Related Articles
AT News Report
KABUL: Police on Sunday besieged the residence of a former Taliban official in Kabul.
Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef who served as Afghanistan ambassador to Pakistan during the Taliban government, said that his house was surrounded by police for several hours.
Zaeef was in Qatar to attend the fifth round of negotiations between Taliban and the US envoy ZalmayKhalilzad that ended on Tuesday, and his residence came under besiege when he was not there.
“I am working for peace, I have no other agenda, but still my home came under attack,” he said.
“I am cooperating in the peace process. This is my demand and my ambition that peace should come to Afghanistan. I have not done anything against anyone. I have no idea about it. Anyone who is doing this should find the motivation behind it.”
He said that police besieged his residence from 03:00am to 10:00am and when he was back to Kabul, he learned of the incident.
Officials in the interior ministry reject the claims, saying police launched an operation to arrest another person named Mullah Tooti who has been charged with land grabbing. Official say that Mullah Tooti lives in the same neighborhood where Mullah Zaeef’s residence lies in the Bagrami district, a Kabul eastern outskirt.
Political analysts believe that Mullah Zaeef is a strong supporter for the intra-Afghan dialogues and the remarks made recently by the National Security Advisor HamdullahMohib against the US diplomat ZalmayKhalilzad. The analysts say that his house besiege could be interpreted as sabotage of the ongoing peace negotiations.
Mohib accused Khalilzad of keeping the results of negotiations with Taliban secret from Afghan government. He claimed that Khalilzad was trying to shape and lead an interim government in Afghanistan.
Zaeef said that besiege ended after he made phone calls to government officials and influential politicians. He said that the reason of besiege was not clear for him.
