Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: A message of the Taliban’s supreme commander, Mullah Mohammad Omar, regarding the recent round of formal peace talks said to be written in Pakistan’s port city, Karachi.
Bette Dam, author of “A Man and a Motorcycle, How Hamid Karzai Came to Power” said the message was most likely written by political wing of the Taliban in Karachi as their supreme commander is “under house arrest” there.
The Dutch author who is going to publish biography about Mullah Omar said that Pakistani authorities have kept the Taliban leader under house arrest in Karachi city.
The message endorsing peace talks with the Afghan government was welcomed by Kabul and other key regional and international players. The message was released on July 15, two days before Eid al-Fitr, aimed at overcoming the confusion among the Taliban fighters and leaders. It is said that a faction of the Taliban are against the talks and want to continue fighting foreign and Afghan security forces. Mullah Omar in his message said that Islam does not forbid Muslims from negotiating with enemies. However, it is yet to be confirmed that whether the message was written by the Taliban’s supreme commander himself or somebody else did it.
Such messages were released in the past as well with signature and name of Mullah Omar, but authenticity of these messages could not be confirmed. No one knows that whether he is alive or dead though the militant group claimed that its commander is alive and healthy. No one has seen Mullah Omar since 2001.
