PESHAWAR/KABUL: The details of a senior Afghan official’s alleged kidnapping in Pakistan are becoming increasingly mysterious, Arab News can report.
Mohammad Nabi Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Kunar province, was registered as the victim of a kidnapping on Sunday in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where he had gone for medical treatment.
His brother Habibullah told police that Ahmadi was walking near Dabgari Gardens, an area that houses several specialist medical clinics, at around 9 p.m. on Friday when a car with tinted windows pulled up and the Afghan official was bundled inside.
However, Arab News has learned that the Pakistani police are treating Habibullah’s story as “suspicious.”
To begin with, a police official from the police checkpoint near Civil Quarters, where the kidnapping was initially registered, said Habibullah only reported his brother’s abduction until the morning after the incident took place, having stayed the night in a hotel. And when he did finally report the case, the official told Arab News that he gave no helpful information and did not mention the fact that his brother was a high-ranking Afghan official.
“We asked him about the number and color of the car in which the Afghan official had been taken,” the official said. “But he said he does not know.”
The official also said that when police requested that Habibullah come to the station to help with their inquiries, “he lied to us and said he was in Islamabad. But when we traced his number, we found he was present in Peshawar.”
He added that Habibullah was no longer cooperating with the police inquiry.
Arab News called Habibullah on the telephone number he had provided to police when reporting the incident. However, the person who answered the phone denied he was Habibullah, and refused to say anything further.
Abdul Ghani Musamim, the spokesmen for the governor of Kunar, confirmed to Arab News that Ahmadi was visiting Peshawar for medical treatment.
“His family informed authorities that he had been abducted in Peshawar by armed men on Friday. We do not know the motive behind this. No group has claimed responsibility for it. We have been in touch with our diplomatic missions in Pakistan to investigate the incident."
An Afghan Foreign Ministry official told Arab News that the Afghan embassy and consulate had not been informed that Ahmadi would be visiting Peshawar, and confirmed that Pakistani authorities have been informed of his abduction. Like Musamim, the official said he was unaware of the reason behind Ahmadi’s reported abduction.
The Taliban have denied any involvement in Ahmadi's kidnapping, Reuters reported.
“We heard that a deputy Afghan governor went missing in Pakistan but let me clarify that we don't operate outside Afghanistan," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid was quoted as saying. “In Pakistan, our leadership has strictly forbidden our people from any sort of activities, as this is not our policy.”
Mystery surrounds Afghan official’s alleged abduction in Pakistan
Mystery surrounds Afghan official’s alleged abduction in Pakistan
Trump said Iran ‘welcome to compete’ in World Cup, says Infantino
US President Donald Trump has said that Iran is “welcome” to participate at the upcoming World Cup in North America, despite the ongoing Middle East war, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday.
The war, triggered by US-Israeli strikes on February 28, has thrown into doubt Iran’s participation at this summer’s men’s football World Cup, jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.
During a meeting to discuss preparations for the competition, “we also spoke about the current situation in Iran,” Infantino, the head of world football’s governing body, wrote on Instagram.
“During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,” he wrote.
The comments marked the first time that Infantino, who in December created a FIFA peace prize and awarded it to Trump, has acknowledged the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Trump’s remarks to Infantino are a stark contrast to his comments to Politico last week.
Trump told Politico: “I really don’t care” if Iran play at the World Cup.
FIFA’s president has grown close to Trump since he returned to the White House, even attending his inauguration.
Asylum claims
Iran’s federation football chief on Tuesday cast doubt on his team’s participation in the sporting extravaganza, following the defection of several women footballers from the Islamic republic during the Asian Cup in Australia.
“If the World Cup is like this, who in their right mind would send their national team to a place like this?” Mehdi Taj asked on Iranian state television.
While the event is spread out across three countries, Iran are scheduled to play all three group games in the United States, two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle.
Should Iran withdraw from the sport’s quadrennial showpiece, it would be the first time a country did that since France and India pulled out of the 1950 finals in Brazil.
On Tuesday, at the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia, some players from Iran’s team claimed asylum after they came under fire from state television for not singing the country’s national anthem before one match.
Five players, including captain Zahra Ghanbari, slipped away from the team hotel under the cover of darkness to claim sanctuary from Australian officials, the Australian government announced.
At least two more team members applied to stay later in the day, according to local media.
However, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Wednesday that one of them had subsequently changed her mind.
Burke said in parliament on Wednesday that he had since been advised that one of the group “had spoken to some of the team mates that left and changed their mind.”
“She had been advised by her team mates and encouraged to contact the Iranian embassy,” he said.
“As a result of that, it meant the Iranian embassy now knew the location of where everybody was.”
The remaining players have been moved from a safe house to another location, he said.
