ISLAMABAD: A new WikiLeaks diplomatic cable has revealed the details of the Saudi Arabia-backed reconciliation process to bring peace in Afghanistan, quoting Afghan president’s brother Abdul Qayyum Karzai saying that Mulla Omar could not survive the talks’ process, as he had no role to play and exile was perhaps an option for him.
“I see no way for Mullah Omar to survive the process – he didn’t have the intelligence or popular support to emerge on top. He (Omar) and Mulla Barader are hated by too many elements within the Pashtun spectrum. Perhaps exile was an option for them,” the WikiLeaks cable quoted Qayyum Karzai during his meeting with US ambassador in Kabul William B Wood while discussing Taliban-Afghan government talks held at an Iftar dinner hosted by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in 2008.
Per the cable, Saudi Arabia agreed to continue facilitating the talks, but was firm that it would not serve as an intermediary for the Taliban who must work directly with Afghanistan. “The king is concerned about being too closely linked to the Taliban and that media speculation regarding the recent event made some officials there nervous,” said Karzai while briefing the US ambassador.
Per details, the 17-member Taliban delegation was invited to Saudi Arabia led by Mulla Abdul Salam Zaif, while two members of the Quetta Shura of the Taliban were also part of the delegation. Qayyum expressed concern about the fragility of the process and its vulnerability to being “usurped” by the Afghan government.
He said Abdullah Anas, a former Algerian mujahideen commander, proposed him to discuss his proposal of engaging Muslim clerics and scholars to create a framework for talks with the Taliban. Anas and Qayyum met Dr Mansour, adviser to King Abdullah, to ask Saudi Arabia to host the first engagement in this process: gathering a “group of mullahs”.
Abdul Qayyum Karzai is not the owner of Afghanistan. If his drug infested mafia brother can be the president then anyone and anything is possible in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is one of the most conservative Muslim nations on earth. Mullah Omar is a Muslim; Karzia is a knight in the mold of King Habibullah, Amanullah and Najibullah and doesn’t even control central Kabul. Karzai is hated by too many elements within the Pashtun spectrum because all he is doing is killing Pashtuns. Perhaps exile is the only option for both Qayyum Karzai and his brother
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