Playboy and the Mullah

This man, for example, Mullah Mustafa, tried to shoot me.

Now this is not to say Afghanistan is a place full of people like Mullah Mustafa.

And Mullah Mustafa he's the man with the pen and paper explained that the man sitting immediately to the left as you look at the photograph, Nadir Shah had bet him that he couldn't hit me.

Two listed individuals have registered as candidates for the 18 September parliamentary elections Mullah Abdul Samad Khaksar, the former Taliban deputy (security) minister of interior affairs, and Abdul Wakil Mutawakil, the former Taliban minister for foreign affairs.

The Pakistani media revisited a famous comment by Mohammad Iqbal, the poet philosopher who devised the idea of an independent Muslim state in Pakistan. The religion of the mullah, he said, is anarchy in the name of Allah.

First, Afghanistan must not become a safe haven for terrorists. Mullah Mohammed Omar the Taliban s leader, who is reportedly in hiding in Pakistan must understand that if the Taliban uses any formal political influence it gains in Afghanistan to support terrorist activities, it will face united regional opposition.

There is a vast number of important Buddhist sites in Swat and other areas of northwest Pakistan. At this point, all of them are under threat of destruction, thanks to the influential voice of the Islamist leader Mullah Fazlullah, whose father in law, Sufi Mohammad, founded one of the extremist orders.

The United States and its Afghan and NATO allies have demonstrated unmistakable progress in Afghanistan this year. The ongoing Marja campaign, the arrest of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and two Taliban shadow governors in Pakistan, and the recent drone strike hitting top leaders of the Al Qaeda affiliated Haqqani network are all clear steps in the right direction.

Pakistan recommends seeking an alternate venue for the negotiations with the Taliban, rather than abandoning reconciliation efforts altogether. This bodes well for the resumption of talks, given that Pakistan played a leading role in facilitating the Taliban s emergence and is now home to the Afghan Taliban s ruling council, including its leader, Mullah Omar, along with the Pakistani Taliban.