KANDAHAR (voa) – U.S. forces in Afghanistan have taken the Taleban’s former foreign minister into custody following his surrender to Afghan authorities, and they are now questioning him in Kandahar.
American spokesmen say the Taleban official, Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, turned himself in to Afghan authorities on Friday in Kandahar, which was the headquarters of the Islamic militia that formerly ruled Afghanistan. Afghan officials transferred custody of Mullah Muttawakil to the U.S. military, which is now holding him at its base in Kandahar.
The former foreign minister is the highest-ranking member of Afghanistan’s former Taleban rulers to turn himself in. U.S. officials say they think he could provide valuable information about the al-Qaida network of Osama bin Laden.
U.S. troops are in eastern Afghanistan Saturday, investigating the site of a U.S. missile attack Monday that may have killed several senior al-Qaida members.
Pentagon officials say the missile appeared to hit a group of men, one of whom they say was taller than the others and was being treated with great deference. Media reports have speculated the man was Osama bin Laden, who is more than 190 centimeters tall. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the Pentagon has no idea whether the tall man in the targeted group was Osama bin Laden.
After delays due to bad weather, helicopters carried more than 50 troops Friday to the area where the missile attack took place, at Zawar Kili, near the Tora Bora cave complex where U.S. and Afghan forces battled al-Qaida fighters in November.
Zawar Kili, in Paktia province, is the site of what was a major al-Qaida training and weapons storage facility.
