Mavlawi Shafihullah Shafih, a low level member of the High Peace Council set up by President Hamid Karzai to liaise with insurgents, disappeared on Friday in the Asmar district of the eastern province of Kunar, authorities said on Sunday.
Shafih, a former education department head in neighbouring Nuristan province, had travelled from Kabul to meet insurgents and encourage them to join the peace process after Taliban leaders proposed opening a representative office in Qatar.
"As soon as he left his car Taliban captured him," said Shahzada Shahid, another member of the 70-member council who had travelled to the Kunar capital of Asadabad in an effort to free Shafih with support from community elders.
Shafih`s abduction comes four months after the head of the High Peace Council, former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, was assassinated by an insurgent carrying a bomb hidden in his turban. The attack wounded four people, including Masoom Stanekzai, head of the council`s secretariat.
It also comes after an offer by the Taliban`s leadership to open an office in Qatar to lay the ground for possible peace talks with the United States and its main allies, including the Afghan government. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
