Kabul [Afghanistan]: There are negotiations going on in the Afghan Presidential Palace ARG to transfer power to the Taliban with Ali Ahmad Jalali as head of the new interim government on Sunday, reports said.
The Khaama Press News Agency reported that the Head of High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah is said to be mediating the process.
Sources have also said that Ali Ahmad Jalali will be appointed as head of the new interim government, reported The Khaama Press News Agency.
Who is Ali Ahmad Jalali?
Ali Ahmad Jalali is a US-based academic and former interior minister of the war-torn country from from January 2003 to September 2005. He has also served as the former Afghan ambassador to Germany. Since October 2005, Jalali serves as a Distinguished Professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA) at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.
Born in Kabul, Jalali was a US citizen since 1987 and resided in Maryland in the United States. However, he returned to Afghanistan in 2003 and was appointed the minister of interior under the transitional government at that time. In 2004, he was reappointed again as the interior minister and served the post until September 2005.
During the Soviet invasion, the 81-year-old was a former colonel in the army and was a top advisor at the Afghan Resistance Headquarters in Peshawar. He has also attended higher command and staff colleges in Afghanistan, the United States, United Kingdom, and Russia, and has lectured widely.
When he was the minister of interior, Jalali reportedly created a trained force of 50,000 Afghan National Police (ANP) and 12,000 Border Police to work effectively in counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, and criminal investigation to fight against organized crime and illegal border crossings. He also successfully led the country-wide operations to protect the constitutional grand assembly (Loya Jirga) in 2003, the nationwide voters’ registration drive and landmark 2004 Presidential election, and the parliamentary elections in 2005.
Jalali has authored several books and articles on political, military and security issues in Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia in three languages (English, Pashto, Dari).
Earlier, the Taliban in a statement assured residents of Kabul no to be afraid as they are not intended to enter the Afghan capital militarily and there will be a peaceful movement towards Kabul, reported The Khaama Press News Agency.
Faced with little or no resistance, the Taliban entered the Afghan capital Kabul from all sides.
Taliban has now ordered its members to wait near Kabul gates and not attempt to enter the city, TOLO News reported.
Meanwhile, Russia, together with partners, is working on convening an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the issue of Afghanistan, Russian Special Presidential Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov told Sputnik on Sunday.
"We will convene [the meeting]. But it will not change the situation, we should have thought about it earlier, and not hold seatings now," Kabulov said.
The First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, Vladimir Dzhabarov, told Sputnik that the situation in Afghanistan must be urgently discussed in the UN Security Council, as the fate of the country seemed to have been foreclosed.
He added that Russia cannot and will not interfere in the situation in Afghanistan, as it is a sovereign state.
(With ANI inputs)
