KABUL (Reuters) – Taliban insurgents detained veteran militia commander Mohammad Ismail Khan on Friday after they seized the western city of Herat, a provincial council member said.
Khan, who has been leading fighters against the Taliban in recent weeks, was handed over to the insurgents along with the provincial governor and security officials under a pact, provincial council member Ghulam Habib Hashimi told Reuters.
“The Taliban agreed that they will not pose any threat or harm to the government officials who surrendered,” Hashimi said.
Khan is one of Afghanistan’s most prominent warlords. Known as the Lion of Herat, he battled Soviet occupiers in the 1980s and was a key member of the Northern Alliance whose U.S.-backed forces toppled the Taliban in 2001.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that Khan had been detained.
(Reporting by Kabul bureau; Editing by Robert Birsel and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
