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Taliban's Foreign Minister Switches Sides
Tuesday, October 16, 2001
By Juan O. Tamayo / Knight Ridder News Service
Warren P. Strobel in Washington &
Michael Zielenziger in New Delhi contributed to this report.

“This is obviously a big blow to the Taliban ...”

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
The Taliban foreign minister, Maulvi Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, has defected from the Kabul regime, the first sign of a significant break in the ranks of the Taliban leadership.

In a Pakistani intelligence operation, the foreign minister was spirited out of Afghanistan in a small aircraft late last week. He then traveled to the Persian Gulf nation of Dubai, preparing to join Afghanistan's deposed king in Rome.

Muttawakil's defection was confirmed by intelligence officials in Islamabad and Washington, and also by aides to the former king, Mohammad Zahir Shah, in Rome. U.S. intelligence officials in Washington also said that Muttawakil had defected, and that they had received reports that Pakistani intelligence was behind the defection.

Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Riaz Mohammed Khan and the chief Taliban diplomat at the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad, Abdulrahim, denied Muttawakil had switched sides.
(More: The Philadelphia Inquirer News Source)
2001 © Knight Ridder News Service

Gonna hafta start a score card with this conflict,
Dan