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4 senior Taliban accept amnesty
Four senior Taliban leaders have accepted a reconciliation offer from the Afghan government, a Western official with direct knowledge of the deal said Tuesday. Under the agreement, which the official said would likely be announced within days, the men recognized the legitimacy of President Hamid Karzai's government in exchange for assurances that they would not face arrest by Afghan or foreign security forces.

The official identified the four as Abdul Hakim Mujahid, formerly the Taliban's envoy to the United Nations; Arsullah Rahmani, the former deputy minister of higher education and a former commander in southeastern Paktika province; Rahmatullah Wahidyar, the former deputy minister of refugees and returnees; and Fawzi, the former charge d'affaires at the Afghan Embassy in Saudi Arabia and then first secretary at the Afghan Embassy in Pakistan. Like many Afghans, Fawzi uses only one name.
These gents prefer to shelter at the Four Seasons in Islamabad over the brutal Afghan winter...
All four had fled to neighboring Pakistan after U.S. forces and Afghan militias drove the Taliban from power in late 2001, the official said.

Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-02-16
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=56597