KABUL, 21 February 2005 — Four former Taleban officials, led by a former UN envoy, said yesterday they had had successful reconciliation talks with the US-back Afghan government. The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency said the former Taleban officials returned to Pakistan on Saturday after a two-week visit to Kabul during which they met President Hamid Karzai.
The agency quoted their leader, Abdul Hakim Mujahid, the former Taleban ambassador to the United Nations, as saying the talks aimed at “national unity, understanding and peace” had been successful. “We have reached an understanding,” he said, without elaborating. Khaliq Ahmad, a spokesman for Karzai, confirmed talks had taken place. “The reconciliation process is going on well and progress is being made,” he said.
Mujahid stressed his group had not represented the Taleban but Khudam-ul Furqan, a group some moderate Taleban members joined after the overthrow of the fundamentalists by US-led forces in late 2001. Mujahid said talks with the Afghan government had been going on for the past two years and as well as meeting Karzai, the delegation met other Afghan leaders and elders.
A year ago, Karzai said he was considering talks with a former Taleban foreign minister, Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, in a bid to woo moderate Taleban supporters, but no details have emerged of any such meeting. None of Mujahid’s group is known as a senior figure in the Taleban guerrilla campaign waged since 2001 against the government.
