Security forces did not surround Zaeef’s house: MoI

KABUL (TOLO news): Security forces surrounded the house of Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, a former ambassador of Taliban for Pakistan during their regime in Kabul, a source said on Sunday. However, the Ministry of Interior said the operation was carried out to arrested a wanted criminal whose house is located near Mullah Zaeef’s residence.

The source said that the move happened on Saturday night after Zaeef came from southern Kandahar province and still continues. Zaeef participated in recent US and Taliban talks in Doha.

“The area was under siege since 1am and the soldiers did not let them get in and now the elders have been informed, and the problem is solved now,” Zaeef told TOLOnews, adding that “I have no idea whether it was planned on my house.”

Security sources said that last night they searched a house close to Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef’s residence and that the news of about the siege on Zaeef’s house is not true.

Nusrat Rahimi, spokesman for Ministry of Interior, said the news of surrounding Mullah Zaeef’s house is not true.

H said the Kabul Garrison forces conducted an operation to arrest Mullah Tokhi, a wanted criminal and a land grabber, whose house is located close to that of Mullah Zaeef.

He said Mullah Tokhi was arrested in the operation and that a number of weapons were confiscated from his house.

Zaeef was Taliban’s ambassador to Pakistan before the US invasion of Afghanistan.

He was detained in Pakistan in the fall of 2001 and held until 2005 in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp. The United Nations removed Zaeef from its list of terrorists in July 2010.

Following the US invasion, Zaeef was forced to end his news conferences, seized by Pakistani authorities, and handed over to American operatives.

Zaeef was released from Guantanamo in the summer of 2005. He has started a normal life in Kabul and also continued his political activities.