After 21 years in hiding, Taliban shows leader’s car

The Taliban movement in eastern Afghanistan drove out the car used by Mullah Mohammad Omar, its historic leader, to escape American strikes, after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, after 21 years of hiding it.

Taliban official Abdul Jabbar al-Omari, who buried the vehicle in a white Toyota Corolla, was ordered out this week in a village garden in southeastern Afghanistan’s Zabul province, AFP reported.

Zabul Media and Culture Director Rahmatullah Hammad said the car is still in good condition and only slightly damaged.

“This vehicle was buried by the Taliban fighters in memory of Mullah Omar in 2001 to prevent its destruction”, he said.

Taliban officials posted pictures of the car in a large crater partially covered with earth as it was being removed by shovels and pickpockets.

The Taliban plan to hand the car over to the National Museum in Kabul to be presented as a great historic landmark, Rahmatullah Hammad said.

Mullah Omar founded the movement in Kandahar and led it to power in Afghanistan in 1996 after a bloody civil war.

Afghanistan then became a haven for terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden, the architect of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

When the Taliban refused to hand over bin Laden, the United States and its allies launched a major military operation in the country and drove the Taliban from power.

Taliban officials said this week that Mullah Omar fled Kandahar in a Toyota Corolla.

The movement’s historic leader died in hiding in 2013, although the group kept his death a secret for a long time.

After 20 years of trying to contain a bloody insurgency, Washington and its NATO allies withdrew their troops from Afghanistan in August 2012, after which the Taliban took control of Kabul.