Today, he is a fugitive, in hiding in Pakistan. After spotting him at a funeral, NEWSWEEK’s Sami Yousafzai sought Jan out for an interview. Go-betweens instructed Yusefzai to take first a taxi, then a bus from the Pakistani city of Quetta. Aboard the bus, a guide told him to get off and change buses. The second bus stopped suddenly in the middle of nowhere on a lonely rural road, about 45 miles from Quetta. Yusefzai was led down a footpath to an apple orchard, where he found Jan and an aide in the shade of a tree.
Jan was disguised in the dirty clothing of a poor farmer, sporting a beard untrimmed in the Taliban manner, and a Pakistani-style turban. He had clearly not bathed for a long time. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: Can you no longer live openly in Pakistan?
MAULVI AGHA JAN: We are on the run here so we cannot stay in one place long. Normally we travel [375 miles] in a week and sometimes change our place twice a night.
Do you worry that the Pakistanis will get you and turn you over to the Americans?
I fear that we might be arrested any moment and we are mentally ready for it. If they catch us, they will definitely be sending us to Guantanamo as they did with the rest of our colleagues.
What do you hear about the Guantanamo prisoners?
We have received [Red Cross] letters from some of our colleagues and although they have not mentioned anything about their condition, we know they are not being treated well. The treatment is against basic human rights. Interestingly, those prisoners are not al-Qaeda. [Most of them] don’t even know what al-Qaeda is.
What do you think will come of the loya jirga process presided over by King Zahir Shah [to appoint a transitional government]?
Zahir Shah is now very old and unfit to govern. He did not return out of his own free will but under American pressure. America wants to choose the representatives to the loya jirga so it will be un-Islamic and unacceptable to Afghans. The main issue in Afghanistan today is peace. No election, no Zahir Shah and no loya jirga can bring that peace. Only a true Islamic government like ours, acceptable to the majority of the Afghan people, can ensure peace in Afghanistan.
Do you think the Americans will get Mullah Omar?
He is the one who brought real peace to Afghanistan… The Americans are trying hard to catch him but I am sure that with the grace of Allah,; they will never succeed.
What about Osama bin Laden? Where do you think he is?
Osama is a true patriot and despite their all-out efforts, the Americans are unable to catch him and never will be able to. We know very little about exactly where he is but we know that he is neither in Afghanistan nor in Pakistan. In fact, he has already left through a neighboring Islamic country, to a safe place. He is now out of danger.
That means through either Pakistan or Iran. Which is it? And to where?
[He waves his hand dismissively and doesn’t reply]
Only a year ago, the Taliban had everything. You’d still be in power if you had only expelled Osama bin Laden. Any regrets?
When we were in power, our government served as a model Islamic state where Islam was implemented in its true form. We are not hopeless, and are pretty sure to return to power soon. Osama was there as our distinguished guest and we are proud of having him there as a guest…. But it is not correct to say that we did all this only for the sake of one man, Osama. In fact we did it for Islam and will do so in the future also. In fact, Osama was only an excuse that the Americans used. The fact is that even if we had handed him over to them, allowed girls to study and women to work, they would not have recognized our government.
In the last year of your government many say Osama bin Laden was running Afghanistan, and al-Qaeda had taken over the Taliban movement.
That is totally incorrect. Osama was our guest and guests have to remain within certain limits. Osama never crossed or tried to cross those limits. At one point we even took away his communications.
The Taliban vowed to fight back against the Americans but so far you’re just on the run. Will you start a guerrilla war against the Americans?
A guerrilla war in a country like Afghanistan does not need much foreign help, but we are not yet in a position to reorganize ourselves. The Americans have destroyed everything. However, the way people, especially the Pashtuns, are being harassed on suspicions of links to al-Qaeda, may force them to take up arms again.
This time, though, you won’t have Pakistan behind you.
Pakistan is an Islamic state and the people there love their religion. But its government’s decision to call our holy jihad terrorism was wrong. Afghans are proud people and history shows they never forgive those who bring misery to their land. God will not spare those who are now killing innocent people in the name of hunting al-Qaeda and terrorists.
Do you wish the Taliban had done some things differently when you had the power?
Being human, we might have committed some mistakes on the political front. On the issue of Osama, we were ready to negotiate and find some political solution but the response by the Americans was one of bullying and intimidation, and you know the Afghan nation never bows to intimidation.
Jan abruptly broke off the interview; saying he was in a hurry to move on. “This is not a good place to talk,” he said, clearly nervous. Jan returned to the road and crossed it; Yusefzai was instructed to wait on the other side, and not to look at the fugitive. They both boarded buses heading in opposite directions.
