UAE lifts restrictions on Mutasim: source

KABUL leader and peace negotiator Agha Jan Mutasim has been released from home confinement by authorities in the United Arab Emirate (UAE), a government source confided to Pajhwok Afghan News.

Mutasim, a finance minister during the Taliban regime, has been placed under house arrest for more than a week in the gulf country, Afghan officials said on Thursday, calling him the only senior Taliban leader, who supported the peace initiative with the Karzai administration.

A well-placed source in the Afghan government, wishing not to be named, told Pajhwok that Mutasim had been released from house arrest in the UAE.

The source, however, did not provide any reason behind Mutasim’s home confinement and if he is going to be deported to Afghanistan after his release.

The development comes a day after 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, Mutassim 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.

rm/ma

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