On Tuesday, uncertainty existed over the whereabouts of Afghan opposition leader Gulbudinn Hekmatyar, who opposes the interim Kabul government of Hamid Karzai and has been threatened with expulsion from Iran, to which he fled in 1996.
The Tehran and Mashhad offices of the Pashtun leader, who heads the fundamentalist Hezb-e-Islami party, were closed at the request of the Iranian government, a few days before Karzai's visit to the Islamic Republic, which ended on Tuesday.
The Iranian interior ministry had made it clear to Hekmatyar, a former Afghan Prime Minister that he was under threat of expulsion, according to AFP.
The 60-year-old Hekmatyar has a home in the holy city of Qom south of Tehran.
His office in Zahedan in southeastern Iran remains open, but all communication with that office has been impossible for the past few days.
According to an official from a small monarchist group from Zahedan, Zaher Goradge, Hekmatyar "came to Zahedan a few days ago. He met some Afghans and tried to go back to Afghanistan but that had not been possible."
After the defeat of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia, Hekmatyar announced that he intended to return to Afghanistan, despite viewing the Karzai government as "illegitimate." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
