Kabul, Oct 08: Former Taliban Foreign Minister Abdul Wakil Mutawakil has been released by the US military after 18 months in custody, his uncle and an official said today. He is now at home in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
"He was released from Bagram air base two days ago and he is now in his home in perfect health," Mutawakil's uncle Abdul Ghafoor Khadam said, referring to the US military headquarters and detention center north of Kabul. An Afghan foreign ministry official confirmed Mutawakil had been freed earlier this week.
US military spokesman Colonel Rodney Davis said he was unaware of Mutawakil's release. Khadam said Mutawakil had travelled from Kabul to Kandahar on a United Nations aircraft.
Mutawakil, 32, was a key figure in the Taliban's leadership council but surrendered to US troops after two months of hiding in the tribal area along the Afghan-Pakistan border when the hardline regime fell in late 2001.
Regarded as a moderate among the Taliban, Mutawakil had reportedly tried to negotiate the handing over of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.
US-led forces on October 7, 2001 launched an assault to topple the Taliban for their failure to hand over bin Laden following the September 11 terror attacks that killed more than 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon. Bureau Report