Mulla Omar safe, says Zaeef

Published November 29, 2001

ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: Former Taliban ambassador Mulla Abdus Salam Zaeef has refuted reports that the Taliban supreme leader Mulla Mohammed Omar was killed in the US attack on Kandahar on Wednesday.

“Mulla Omar is safe and I have talked to him on phone,” he told reporters at an Iftar dinner hosted by the PML chairman, Raja Zafarul Haq.

Mulla Zaeef said that he knew nothing about Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts.

On the Bonn conference, he said, it would only give rise to civil strife in the war-torn country as neither the Pakhtoons nor the Taliban were represented.

He said that the people would not accept whatever transpires at the Bonn conference.

Mulla Zaeef said that no stable administrative setup would succeed in Kabul without the participation of the Pakhtoons who are 60 per cent of the total population of Afghanistan.

On the military operation, he said, by the grace of God the Taliban forces would emerge victorious and the US troops would suffer a humiliating defeat.

The government of Pakistan closed down the Taliban embassy earlier this month, but Mulla Zaeef and others were allowed to stay in the capital.

Opinion

Editorial

The May war
Updated 06 May, 2026

The May war

Rationality demands that both states come to the table and discuss their grievances, and their solutions in a mature manner.
Looking inwards
06 May, 2026

Looking inwards

REGULAR appraisals by human rights groups and activists should not be treated by the authorities as attempts to ...
Feeling the heat
06 May, 2026

Feeling the heat

ANOTHER heatwave season has begun, and once again, the state is scrambling to respond to conditions it has long been...
Energy shock
Updated 05 May, 2026

Energy shock

The longer the crisis persists, the more profound its consequences will be.
Unchecked HIV
05 May, 2026

Unchecked HIV

PAKISTAN’S HIV surge is no longer a slow-burning public health concern. It is now a system failure unfolding in...
PSL thrills
05 May, 2026

PSL thrills

BY the end of it all, in front of fans who had been absent for almost the entire 11th season of the Pakistan Super...