WASHINGTON/KABUL, 10 January — Local officials in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar have freed seven senior Taleban officials after their surrender, much to the embarrassment of the new interim government in Kabul. This was despite the Karzai government’s assurances that all suspects would be turned over to the United States. Foreign Ministry spokesman Omar Samad said in Kabul that an investigation was under way into the release of the men.
Jalal Khan, a close associate of Kandahar Gov. Gul Agha, said the men had met officials in the Kandahar government and received general amnesty after recognizing the new interim administration. They have been allowed to go back to their homes and live with their families, Khan said.
"Those men who have surrendered are our brothers and we have allowed them to live in a peaceful manner. They will not be handed over to America," Khan said. "However, they will not participate in politics." They include Mulla Ubaidullah, the defense minister, and Nooruddin Turabi — the one-eyed, one-legged justice minister who imposed some of the Taleban’s harshest edicts. Ubaidullah was close to Osama Bin laden and approved the establishment of Bin Laden’s terrorist training camps. He is also believed to have approved all Al-Qaeda operations and may know the whereabouts of Bin Laden and Taleban leader Mulla Muhammad Omar.
Turabi authored some of the Taleban’s most repressive edicts, particularly those affecting women. Others are Abdul Haq, former security chief of Herat province, Mulla Saadudin, minister of mines, and senior officials Raees Abdul Wahid, Abdul Salam Rakti, and Muhammad Sadiq.
In Kabul, Samad said the release was unacceptable, raising doubts about the control of the central government over some of the warlords in outlying areas.
The United States was unhappy too. "Obviously, individuals of that stature in the Taleban leadership are of great interest to the United States and we would expect that they would be turned over, absolutely," US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers said in Washington.
Meanwhile, the new government ordered Afghan troops to quit Kabul within three days and leave the city in the hands of its police and an international security force. Interior Minister Yunus Qanuni’s office announced the move as French troops joined British soldiers already patrolling the war-ravaged capital to protect the new transitional power-sharing government.
