Mullah Mutasim arrives in Kabul from Dubai

KABUL leader Agha Jan Mutasim arrived in Kabul on Saturday afternoon from Dubai, an official said, about two weeks after the peace negotiator had gone missing in the UAE.

Mutasim had been under house arrest in the UAE for the last about two weeks, a government official, who travelled with the Taliban’s former fiancé minister from Dubai to Kabul, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

On a Kabul-bound Emirates flight “Fly Dubai,” Mutasim was sitting in the VIP section with another person, he said. The plane landed at the Kabul International Airport at 5pm, the official said, but declined to be named.

Mutasim then walked outside of the airport on a VIP lane and went to a car waiting for him, the source said, adding the car was without a registration number.

An official at the Kabul airport, who also wished anonymity, told Pajhwok that it was 5pm when the VIP lane was closed to passengers for a few minutes. He did not provide a reason why the lane was closed.

A day earlier, an official told Pajhwok Afghan News that Mutasim had been released from house arrest by the emirates, less than two weeks after his family said they had lost contact with Mutasim.

The High Peace Council (HPC) said the Afghan government had made requests to the UAE authorities to lift all the restrictions on Mutasim. It remained unclear why Mutasim was confined to his home, or who was behind his arrest.

In March, Mutasim brought 16 high-ranking former and current Taliban figures and Afghan peace council members together in Dubai for a dialogue.

In early February, during a meeting with HPC officials, Agha Jan said if the Pakistani Taliban could enter peace talks with their government, why not the Afghan Taliban.

But after that meeting, the Taliban in a statement said Agha Jan was no longer associated with the movement and the meeting in Dubai did not represent them.

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