Last updated by AQ on 05/11/2005
Mojaddedi is the head and founder of a group known as the National Liberation Front of Afghanistan (Jabha-e Melli-ye Nijat-e Afghanistan). Mojaddedi also served as the first President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan after the Communists were defeated and a Mujahideen government was setup in 1992. In December 2003, he served as the chairman of the Loya Jirga that approved Afghanistan’s new constitution. On March 16, 2005, President Karzai appointed Mojaddedi as the chairman of the Afghan National Commission for Peace in Afghanistan. The commission’s objective is to promote reconciliation. In a press conference held on May 9, 2005 in Kabul, Mojaddedi announced that participation in the reconciliation process is open to all Afghans, including Mullah Omar (head of the Taliban) and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Both Mullah Omar and Hekmatyar are on the US most wanted list. Mojaddedi’s announcement contradicted President Hamid Karzai’s earlier statements that those whose hands are red with the blood of innocent Afghans, including Mullah Omar and Hekmatyar, would be excluded from the reconciliation process. President Karzai distanced himself from Mojaddedi’s remarks, and a US military spokesman cast doubt on Mojaddedi’s assertion that the commission was authorized to offer a general amnesty to such figures as Mullah Omar and Hekmatyar. On May 11th, Mojaddedi retracted his statement. He claimed that his remarks were misconstrued by the media, and that it was up to the Afghan nation to pardon or punish Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Mojaddedi was quoted as saying: “If they accept Afghanistan’s new basic law and give up fighting, they may be forgiven. But personally speaking, I can’t let them off them because I don’t have the right.”
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