Zaeef accuses Pakistan of breaching promises

KABUL: Former Taliban Ambassador Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef has accused the Pakistan government of handing him over to the US in violation of promises made to him.

"The Pakistan government, which gave me a diplomatic visa, had formally allowed me to live there after the Taliban government's fall in 2001," claimed Mullah Zaeef, who has just returned home after his release from the US naval detention centre at Guantanamo Bay.

In an exclusive chat with Pajhwok Afghan News in Kabul, Zaeef alleged Islamabad had yielded him up to the Americans in defiance of all diplomatic norms, international law and firm assurances held out to him.

The 37-year-old from Panjwai district in the southern Kandahar province, who spent four years in captivity in Cuba, said the treatment of prisoners at the infamous Guantanamo Bay camp had recently improved.

Many detainees at the fifth camp, deprived of basic human rights, were suffering from psychological disorders, said Zaeef, who was palpably in good health.

Late Monday night, the ex-ambassador appeared on the state-controlled television along with National Reconciliation Commission Chairman Sibghatullah Mujaddedi.

Mullah Zaeef had held senior positions in the ministries of defence, transport and industries during the Taliban regime. In the late 2002, he had been arrested and handed over to the US military.

A day earlier, Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil described Zaeef's release as propitious moment for an ongoing national reconciliation campaign. He stressed political issues could be best resolved through negotiations and showing magnanimity to political foes.

The Afghan national television said the Mujaddedi-led commission had intervened to win Zaeef's release that came six days ahead of parliamentary elections.