Taliban's Anas Haqqani meets ex Afghan Prez Hamid Karzai amid their efforts to form 'inclusive' govt

New Delhi: Amid the crisis in Afghanistan and the Taliban's efforts to form an inclusive government following their resurgence to power, a Taliban commander and senior leader of the Haqqani Network militant group, Anas Haqqani, has met former Afghan President Hamid Karzai for talks, a Taliban official said on Wednesday, as reported by Reuters.
Karzai was accompanied by the old government's main peace envoy, Abdullah Abdullah, in the meeting, said the Taliban official, who declined to be identified and gave no more details of what was discussed in the meeting.

The Haqqani Network is an important faction of the Taliban, who captured the capital, Kabul, on Sunday. The network, based on the border with Pakistan, was accused over recent years of some of the most deadly militant attacks in Afghanistan.

The Taliban swept into Kabul and seized power on Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani left the country, bringing an end to a two-decade campaign in which the US and its allies had tried to transform Afghanistan.

Earlier, the Taliban pledged to protect the rights of women and minorities and assured that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan would not pose a threat to any country. Political experts say that it might not be as plain as that and doubt whether the terror group which is yet to moderate its "draconian views" on justice will stand by its promises.

The Taliban had ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001 and in those five years, they imposed Sharia Islamic law in the country, introducing punishments in line with their strict interpretation of the law - publically executing convicted murderers and adulterers and carrying out amputations of those found guilty of theft. Men were required to grow beards and women had to wear the all-covering hijab.

(With Reuters,