Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai

KABUL: Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai left on Saturday for the United Arab Emirates on his first trip out of the country since the Taliban conquest in August last year, after which the fundamentalist movement imposed travel restrictions on several senior Afghan officials, including the former president.

Karzai’s advisor, Shahzada Masud, has indicated that the former Afghan president will stay a few days in the Emirates before traveling to Germany, according to statements reported by the Afghan channel Amu TV.

Karzai’s trip comes on the same day as a Taliban delegation led by the group’s defense minister, Mohamed Yaqub Muyahid, to the United Arab Emirates.

Mujahid left Kabul a few hours after Karzai’s flight took off from the Afghan capital’s international airport, according to the network’s sources