Karzai’s quest Afghan: Taliban lambast Fazl over Kabul visit

Taliban spokesperson says Afghan leader has ‘trapped’ the JUI-F chief.

ISLAMABAD:

The Afghan Taliban on Friday heaped scorn at  Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman for undertaking a visit to Kabul on the invitation of President Hamid Karzai and making a mockery of the deaths of thousands of people during Karzai’s rule.

The JUI-F chief, who is considered as a pro-Taliban leader, took a five-member delegation to Kabul after a stopover at Dubai to meet President Karzai and members of the High Peace Council on Friday.

A statement issued by the presidential palace stated that both leaders had called for cooperation against terrorism.

“Both leaders discussed ways to get rid of the threats of terrorism and extremism faced by the two countries,” according to the press release.

However, this visit by the JUI-F chief was not welcomed by the Taliban leadership who expressed serious reservations over the meeting between the two leaders.

“We are really shocked and did not expect a senior religious leader like Maulana Fazl to visit Kabul at a time when the country has been occupied by infidel troops,” a senior Afghan Taliban leader told The Express Tribune to register their protest over the visit.

The JUI-F leadership had kept mum in the days leading up to the visit, however party spokesman said recently that the visit had been postponed due to Eid holidays.

Earlier, the JUI-F spokesman had even issued a statement about the visit, but had refrained from announcing the exact date or details of the trip.

“Karzai has succeeded in trapping the honourable Pakistani leader by inviting him at a time when Karzai just has a few months in the office. He will use the visit against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” the Taliban spokesperson said.

He said Karzai and his aides after failing to lure the Afghan Taliban had tried to invite religious leaders from Pakistan and other Muslim countries to mount pressure on the Taliban.

“We appreciate Pakistani religious scholars, who declined Kabul’s invitation for a joint ulema conference in Afghanistan earlier this year,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2013.