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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Afghan politician defects to Taliban | Afghan politician defects to Taliban |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| A former Afghan senator and district governor has defected to the Taliban in the northern province of Sar-e-Pol, officials have told the BBC. | A former Afghan senator and district governor has defected to the Taliban in the northern province of Sar-e-Pol, officials have told the BBC. |
| Qazi Abdul Hai served as a senator between 2004 and 2008 and was later made a district governor in Sar-e-Pol. | Qazi Abdul Hai served as a senator between 2004 and 2008 and was later made a district governor in Sar-e-Pol. |
| Correspondents say he is thought to be the highest-ranking civilian official to have joined the Taliban. | Correspondents say 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. | The move comes as foreign combat forces prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014 and ahead of elections next year. |
| Mr Hai is believed to have defected to the Taliban along with two of his bodyguards on Tuesday. | Mr Hai is believed to have defected to the Taliban along with two of his bodyguards on Tuesday. |
| Officials say it is unclear why he decided to join the Taliban and played down the impact of his decision. | Officials say it is unclear why he decided to join the Taliban and played down the impact of his decision. |
| "His defection does not have any impact on his people in the district, because he was not a very influential person," Abdul Ghafore Dastyaar, deputy governor of Sar-e-Pol, told the BBC's Jafar Haand in Kabul. He added that Mr Hai had left Afghanistan and was believed to be over the border in Pakistan. | |
| The Taliban welcomed the move, describing it as an achievement that supports their cause and said that it was partly due to their efforts in the area. | |
| Mr Hai also appears in a video posted on the Taliban website in which he describes himself as a former mujahideen fighter and says that in his four years in Kabul he saw what he describes as "the corrupt face of the government". | |
| Correspondents say the video is being used as an opportunity to bolster their propaganda effort as well. | |
| Sar-e-Pol, a mountainous region in Afghanistan's north, has not suffered the worst of Taliban violence over the years, but militants have increased their presence in the north in recent years. | |
| Last year there were several defections to the Taliban among police with a police commander and 13 junior officers joining militants in western Farah province in late July. This was followed when 11 policemen defected in Helmand. |