Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil 2

Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil
Born	1971
Predecessor	Mullah Mohammad Hassan
Successor	Abdullah Abdullah

Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil served as the Taliban regime's Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, from 1999 to its overthrow in the fall of 2001. Prior to this he served as spokesman and secretary to Mullah Mohammed Omar, leader of the Taliban. After the Northern Alliance accompanied by U.S. and British forces ousted the regime, Mutawakil surrendered in Kandahar to government troops.

Brokered an exchange of prisoners following a hijacking, in 1999

In 1999 terrorists from Jaish-e-Mohammad hijacked an Indian passenger airliner, and flew it to Afghanistan. Muttawakil helped broker an exchange where the crew and passengers were released when India agreed to release the leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed group, and two of his deputies.

Reportedly warned the USA of the upcoming attack of September 11, 2001

According to the BBC News, Tohir Yo‘ldosh (leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) learned that al Qaeda was planning to use hijacked airliners to attack the United States on September 11, 2001, prior to the attacks. The BBC News reported that Yo‘ldosh then informed the Taliban's Foreign Minister, Muttawakil, who sent an envoy to warn the USA of al Qaeda's attack plans prior to September 11, 2001. The reason the BBC News offered for Yo‘ldosh to initiate an advance warning to the USA of the attacks, was that he was concerned that an al Qaeda attack on the USA would trigger an American counter-attack, which would imperil the safe haven for his group had been enjoying in Afghanistan.

Defected from the Taliban?

In October of 2001, the month following al Qaeda's attacks in the USA, Muttawakil was reported to be in Pakistan. According to the BBC some rumors said he was trying to negotiate an end to the American aerial bombardment of Afghanistan; that he was suggesting the Taliban hand over Bin Laden. Muttawakil was reported to have had a 90 minute meeting with Lieutenant General Ehsanul Haq, the head of Pakistan's powerful Interservice Intelligence Directorate. He was rumored to have asked General Haq to lobby United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, that an American ceasefire would allow moderate elements within hte Taliban, like Muttawakil, to push Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar to abandon Bin Laden.de

On Monday October 15, 2001, it was reported that Muttawakil had arrived in the [[United Arab Emirates in order to defect from the Taliban. UAE official denied this report.

Surrender confirmed

The BBC confirmed that Muttawakil had surrendered, after two weeks of negotiation, in early February of 2002. Abdullah Abdullah the minister who held the same portfolia in Hamid Karzai's Afghan Transitional Authority as Muttawakil had held under the Taliban, stated that Muttawakil should stand trial for war crimes.

Detention

Fazal Mohammad, detained on suspicion of being a former Taliban commander, was released from American custody for medical reasons in mid-2002.

• He reported that he had been held in American custody in Kandahar with about 300 other captives, including Wakil Ahmed Mutawakil, and two of his former deputies, Maulawi Khirullah Khairkhwa, and Abdul Hai Mutmaen.
• He reported that they were fed starvation rations, and their wounds were left untreated.
• He reported that captives were subjected to sexual abuse, and attacks from dogs.

The BBC reported, on Wednesday, October 8, 2003, that Muttawakil had recently been released from eighteen months of detention in Bagram, and had returned to his families home in Kandahar. Muttawakil is reported to have said:

"I'm good, the police provide security for me, some police forces are guarding my house."

On Monday, July 4, 2005 the BBC reported that spent the three years after his surrender in US detention and under Afghan house arrest. Following the end of his house arrest Muttawakil took positions at odds with those of the former Taliban regime. He said he no longer opposed female education, so long as it was consistent with Afghan culture. And he said that supporting Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda had brought suffering to Afghanistan. But he still defended some other aspects of the Taliban's former policies.

Disowned by the Taliban

On Tuesday October 21, 2003, the Taliban disowned Muttawakil. The BBC was told by a Taliban spokesman that Muttawakil "does not represent our will".

In 2003 Muttawakil's location and status was a matter for speculation. The BBC reported that he had been released from detention from the infamous United States Bagram Theater Detention Facility.

The BBC also reports that the US was guarding him, for his own protection, at their base in Kandahar. They report that aides to Muttawakil assert that the USA has given Muttawakil two choices: join the Karzai government as a spokesman and adviser to the Afghan president; or seek political asylum in a Western country. However, the aides said, Muttawakil wanted to take a break from involvement in Afghan politics, and, if he were to seek Asylum, he would wish to do so in an Arab country.

Position within Hamid Karzai's government

Mutawakil ran for parliamentary elections in September 2005. Despite his position with the Taliban leadership, he is now a part of the present government under Hamid Karzai's administration and may even be seen as a moderate.^{[citation needed]}

W.A Mutawakil's brother Maulvi Jalil Ahmed was for six years a Muslim cleric in the city of Quetta, Pakistan. He was killed during a shooting incident in Quetta in July 2005.

Move to Kabul

An article in the German publication Der Spiegel, on April 12 2007, about the Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, said he had moved into a "...handsome guest house, located in the dusty modern neighborhood Khosh Hal Khan." The Der Spiegel article goes on to state that the new home Karzai's government has provided Zaeef is around the corner from Muttawakil's. Der Spiegel described Zaeef's home as being guarded, inside and out, by a heavily armed security detail. Like Muttawakil Zaeef is regarded as one of the more moderate former members of the Taliban.

Saudi peace talks

During Ramadan, 2008, there were rumors that Saudi King Abdullah was attempting to broker peace talks between the warring parties from Afghanistan. Mutawakil, former Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salem Zaeef and former Supreme Court Chief Justice Fazel Hadi Shinwari were among leading Afghan figures who met with King Abdullah.

Zaeef acknowledged being invited by Saudi King Abdullah to dine with other leading Afghan figures, from the Karzai government, the Taliban, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami and other former members of the Taliban. Zaeef denied this meeting should be characterized as "peace talks". He stated that none of the individuals at this meeting had been authorized to conduct negotiations. Zaeef denied anyone discussed Afghanistan at this meeting.

2015 al Arabiya interview

On November 23, 2015, Muttawakil was interviewed by al Arabiya, to discuss the late Mullah Omar, the Taliban's leader, whose death had recently been made public.

Muttawakil said Omar had really died two years earlier, and Taliban officials had withheld that news to prevent splits within the party.

Muttawakil said the widely circulated photo of Omar, missing an eye, was misinformation. He was wearing a disguise for that photo, and he had two healthy eyes. He provided a more accurate photo of Omar to al Arabiya.