Official: Taliban Minister Should Have Afghan Trial

Mon Feb 11,11:04 AM ET

KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The foreign minister of Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s former Taliban government who is now being held by U.S. forces should be handed over to Afghan authorities for trial, an Afghan security official said Monday.

Former Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil is believed to be the most senior member of the ousted hardline Islamist movement in U.S. custody.

He turned himself in to Afghan authorities in the southern city of Kandahar late last week and they handed him over to U.S. forces, U.S. officials said Friday.

But Deen Mohammad Joorat, the head of the Afghan Interior Ministry's national security department, told reporters Muttawakil should be put on trial in Afghanistan.

"I just want to say that since he belongs to Afghanistan, then his trial should take place in Afghanistan," Joorat told reporters.

But he said the interim government led by Hamid Karzai had not asked the United States to hand over Muttawakil.

"We have not approached or requested them to hand over him to us...They will act as they deem it necessary, but we prefer his trial in Afghanistan," Joorat said.

The Taliban were forced from power in December by U.S. air strikes and ground attacks by opposition forces after the September 11 attacks on the United States, blamed on the long-time guest of the Taliban, militant Osama bin Laden (news - web sites).

Before the fall of the Taliban, Muttawakil had criticized the leadership and distanced himself from bin Laden's al Qaeda group, and the interim government did not regard him as a major criminal, Joorat said.