Former Taliban advisor wants amnesty for returnees

At the height of the war against the Taliban, millions of television viewers around the world knew his face. Sitting next to the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, in the capital, Islamabad, Ahmed Ratib Popal, his interpreter, became synonymous with the Taliban itself. Today, Popal despite his links with the ousted and discredited Taliban regime, hopes to return to Afghanistan. The former interpreter believes there should be an amnesty for returning Taliban and Northern Alliance members who are not wanted for criminal acts or crimes against humanity. "Those who have committed crimes should be brought to justice - that is the whole idea of having a government which is fair and just to everybody," he said. The idea of an amnesty to encourage Afghans to return has been suggested by the UN's refugee agency UNHCR. But he added that if people who had been associated with the Taliban, Northern Alliance or the communists were to be arrested, then 50 percent of the people who had left Afghanistan would be unable to return. "If this happens we will never have peace and stability," he warned, adding that all the low-ranking Taliban members with whom he had spoken wanted a normal life. "They want to help rebuild the country, and every Afghan should be part of the reconstruction as we are all responsible," he said. Born into a well-known Afghan family, Popal was a student when, in December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded and took over the country. "This changed our lives totally," he said. "The communists confiscated our land and property, and arrested my father, who disappeared along with some 100 members of my immediate family," he added, saying this marked the start of his involvement in the fighting in Afghanistan. Sitting in his home in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, the six-foot interpreter said the loss of his father when he had been just 15 years old had left him profoundly shocked emotionally, as he then found himself the only living male member of the family, prompting him to join an uprising against the communists. "I studied communism and didn't like it. I also studied Islam, and was very, very religious. I prayed five times a day and I moved closer to religion," he said. This was the time when the late leader of the Northern Alliance, Ahmad Shah Mas'ud launched his operations in the Panjshir valley, and many people in Kabul were against the communists, he added. Popal explained that most of the opposition political activities were being organised in schools, with young men being recruited. "We formed our own group in 1979. There were about 11 of us. One of my classmates was related to Mas'ud, and he was sending arms and explosives to Kabul to start an uprising," he said. Although Popal claims he was not involved in the planning of the uprising, he took part in the operations and a plan to overthrow the government. "I went to Mas'ud's cousin's house in Kabul one evening, and they were preparing bombs and guns, and were going to buildings linked to the communists. I was told to plant a time bomb in the Russian embassy and was given four [more] to throw over the walls of the compound. But there was something wrong with the timing, and when I connected the wires it exploded in my hand, and I lost my hands and an eye," he said. Taken to the military hospital in Kabul as a prisoner, Popal was treated for 100 days. However, he successfully lied about what had happened, and was spared by the government troops. Following the incident, he travelled to Germany for a prosthetic arm, and ended up in the US, where he married an American woman. Although they had a child, the marriage was short-lived, and they divorced. However, his involvement with the civil war throughout the 1980s continued even whilst he was in the US. "I remained active with the Mujahidin soldiers who were injured. They were brought to the US for treatment," he said. Popal then decided it was time to return to the region, first to Pakistan, and in 1997 he decided to start a business in Afghanistan, where his saga with the Taliban began. "I saw business opportunities, and set up my steel factory in Kabul with help from the Chinese. That is how I got involved with the Taliban, particularly with Ambassador Zaeef. He is a very close friend of mine." Popal became Zaeef's English teacher and, following 11 September, Zaeef called on Popal to become his interpreter. "It was a Sunday afternoon when the street that Zaeef lives on in Islamabad was full of journalists. He called me over to his place as I lived nearby to help with translation during a news conference," Popal said. "I went, but I did not want to sit with him, because I knew I would be exposed as a member of the Taliban, and I wasn't [one]. So I stood at the back of the room and translated for him, but this didn't work for the reporters, and they asked me to sit with him. Everyone thinks I was a member of the government but I wasn't. Zaeef was a close friend and I wanted to help him," he stressed. Following his appearance in the media, Popal said there were numerous reports about his background which were not true. "At first people thought I was Mullah [Mohammad] Omar and then that I was an Arab, which was totally inaccurate," he said. Asked if he had supported any of the Taliban's policies, he said: "Some policies were excellent and others were not." "We fought against the Soviets to have an Islamic state, and the Taliban did enforce an Islamic system of government, but they took it to an extreme under the influence of the Arabs," he explained, asserting that he used to openly criticise the Taliban for their treatment of women and their attitude to education and entertainment. "I had real fights with Zaeef and other ministers, and most of them agreed that they were wrong. But since Mullah Omar had the power, nobody could change this," he maintained. Zaeef was arrested by US forces in Pakistan on 5 January after his diplomatic status expired, and is being questioned on a US ship in the Arabian Sea. Popal now wants to return to Afghanistan, saying he wants to help rebuild the country, but that his life could be in danger. "I haven't had any death threats yet, but I want to go back to my country and carry on with my life. I'm taking a chance, and hopefully I will return alive. I have nothing to hide," he stressed. Ironically, Popal also said he was related to the leader of the Afghan interim administration, Hamid Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun like him, and with whom he had had discussions about his return. As for the future of the Taliban, Popal said he did not believe they would regroup. "After 11 September there were divisions within the Taliban, and they blamed Mullah Omar for the failure of their regime. He has lost the majority of support from them," he said. Although he supported the new administration, he said there were some flaws. "Certain people who've had a very bad record in the past have been brought back, and some of these people helped the Taliban to rise," he asserted. Regarding the security situation in Kabul, Popal said it would take time for the foreign troops to get to know and understand Afghan street politics, and that there were still security concerns due to rising incidences of theft and murder in and around the city, affecting mainly the local Afghan population. Although Popal does not want to get involved in politics again, he said it was important for him to return and offer whatever help he could towards bringing about a brighter future for the country.