Mullah at centre of secret offer 'in hiding'

18 Oct, 2001 11:08 AM3 mins to read

By RICHARD LLOYD PARRY

ISLAMABAD - The Afghan Foreign Minister reported to have made secret peace overtures to the United States has fallen from power and appears to have gone into hiding, say Afghans close to the Taleban.

Mullah Abdul Wakil Muttawakil has either resigned or been forced out of the Taleban cabinet after losing a power struggle with Arab allies of Osama bin Laden, they say.

The political demise of Muttawakil, a relatively moderate member of the leadership, suggests that hardliners have gained the upper hand.

The Pakistani capital, Islamabad, buzzed with rumours about the missing mullah, who was reported to have held secret discussions with generals in Pakistan's spy agency, Interservices Intelligence (ISI), at the weekend.

He was believed to have relayed a request to visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell that the coalition suspend the bombing, saying Taleban moderates would then try to persuade the Taleban commander, Mullah Omar, to hand over bin Laden.

But the Afghan sources, who recently arrived in Islamabad from Kabul, said the purpose of Muttawakil's journey to Pakistan was unclear, and that he could no longer be regarded as Foreign Minister.

"He's not on his seat now, and we don't expect him to go back," one said. "No one we can find has seen him, and it seems to be a consequence of the dispute he had with the Arabs." Muttawakil may have gone to ground among wealthy expatriate Afghans in Pakistan.

Speculation about his whereabouts has reached farcical levels. Reuters and the Associated Press put out stories quoting Hamid Sidig, a senior adviser to Zahir Shah, the former king of Afghanistan.

"He has been in touch with one of our staff outside Italy, and we are still trying to find out why he left," he was quoted as telling Reuters. But in the AP story Sidig described this report as "absolutely wrong".

A foreign official who has met Muttawakil in Afghanistan said he was more likely to have resigned than been forced from power. "He was one of those who was working to rebuild Afghanistan, not the enthusiastic nutters who wanted to subvert the Arab world," the official said. "And he was outmanoeuvred in this tussle with the Arabs. He'd be unlikely to go back - the chances are that he's lying low among the emigres in Pakistan."

Several Taleban leaders have houses in the Pakistani frontier city of Peshawar and some keep their families there. This is for reasons of safety and partly to allow their daughters to go to school - in Afghanistan women are barred from working or receiving an education.

Tension between Mullah Omar and Taleban hardliners increased this year after they rejected his proposal to install internet terminals in Government ministries. He also became involved in a feud with bin Laden's Arab entourage after they escorted an Arab journalist into Kabul.

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