An Afghan delegate to the NATO Summit in Britain claimed asylum on landing in London Thursday, a news report said.
Army Colonel Enayatullah Barack was to be a flag-bearer for a ceremony at the two-day summit in Wales, British newspaper The Times reported.
A Defence Ministry spokesman said he had seen the news reports, but could not confirm that any of the delegates had failed to report for duty.
The delegation was headed by Defence Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, after recent elections failed to name a successor for President Hamid Karzai in time due to drawn-out challenges by the two leading contenders.
The NATO mission in Afghanistan was to be a top subject at the summit, which started Thursday. Violence has surged this year, with Taliban offensives active in 32 of the 34 provinces, an Interior Ministry official said last month.
The Afghan army has long had difficulty in retaining recruits, but Thursday’s was a rare case of an officer seeking asylum abroad, and likely to highlight concerns over the army’s capacity to deal effectively with the insurgents, the Times report said.
Without an Afghan president present, no major commitment was expected, except for pledges to keep a certain number of troops in Afghanistan for training and advisory missions beyond the pullout date for combat personnel by the end of 2014.
GNA
