Waheed Muzhda On Call With Taliban

TOLOnews was given a recording of a phone conversation allegedly taken place between Jabhe Wahdat Milli spokesman Waheed Muzhda and a leader of the Afghan Taliban, in which information and advise is shared regarding the disrupting the Kabul-Washingotn Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA).

 
The recording was given to TOLOnews by an Afghan security official who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
During the conversation, Mr. Muzhda criticizes the security pact and asks the Taliban to support the protest of Jabhe Wahdat Milli against the BSA as the Loya Jirga convenes in Kabul to discuss it.
The information comes to light a week after Afghan National Security Advisor Dr. Rangin Dadfur Spanta told the Lower House that the National Directorate of Security (NDS) had overheard a conversation between a leader in Kabul and the Quetta Council in Pakistan regarding plans to mount opposition to the BSA. He did not name the person in Kabul at the time, and officials denied to comment on whether or not the Muzhda conversations as the one he was referring to last week.
Afghanistan has been embroiled in heated debate over the BSA for a number of weeks now in the lead up to the Loya Jirga, which will end on Sunday. Many say the security pact is essential to future Afghan stability and progress after NATO troops leave in 2014, while others say it would perpetuate the insurgent conflict and make Kabul subservient to the U.S. for years to come.
In the phone conversation, Muzhda's voice can be heard discussing government institutions and the reaction of foreign countries to the daily activities of the Taliban.
Muzhda also talks about showing forged BSA documents to the participants of Loya Jirga, that would make the agreement seem as worse of a deal for Afghanistan. Muzhda also talks about an "official letter" from the Afghan Ambassador in U.S. that would be forged and sent President Hamid Karzai denouncing the accord.
Muzhda can be heard telling the Taliban leader that if the insurgents supported the gathering of Jabhe Wahdat Milli in opposition to the BSA then they would be able to galvanize more support.
During the phone conversation, the Taliban leader asks for Muzhda's help in writing the Taliban's declaration against the signing of the BSA.
"Inshallah, if you publish all these declarations, our status will get stronger and others' will get weaker," Muzhda said.
But in a phone interview with TOLOnews, Muzhda disputed the tape's authenticity and said it was a government plot against him.
"They want to bring people under their control, they want to scare people and make them think that if talk against the government they will accuse us of having relations with Iran or Quetta," Muzhda told TOLOnews. "These efforts are ongoing and I consider them worthless."

Dr. Spanta's comments to Parliament last week sparked outrage amongst MPs who called for the individual - who may or may not be Muzhda - to be arrested and put on trial as a traitor.