A former Afghan senator and district governor has defected to the Taliban in the northern province of Sar-e-Pol, BBC News reported.
Qazi Abdul Hai served as a senator between 2004 and 2008 and was later made a district governor in Sar-e-Pol. He is thought to be the highest ranking civilian official to have joined the Taliban.
The move comes as foreign combat forces prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014 and ahead of elections next year.
Hai is believed to have defected to the Taliban along with two of his bodyguards.
The deputy governor of Sar-e-Pol province told the BBC in Kabul that he did not know why he defected.
According to defence.pk, in June 2013, an Afghan police commander and 13 junior officers have joined the Taliban in the western Afghan province of Farah, what could be the biggest defection by police. The commander, named as Mirwais, was in charge of a 20-man checkpoint when he defected.
Officials said that the equipment taken by the defectors – rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine-guns, radios and police vehicles, including two Humvees – was a major boost to the Taliban in the area.
