It has been revealed that Seddique Mateen, father of the Orlando terrorist Omar Mateen, hosted an anti-american political talk show called the “Durand Jirga Show.” The show was an Afghan news based show with anti-american undertones. Seddique has made several controversial statements on the show, including one incident where he called the Taliban “our warrior brothers.”
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The show received it’s name from the “Durand Line,” A long-disputed border that separates Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is believed the Mateens are of the Pashtun ethnic group, whose homeland straddles the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Many of the Afghan Taliban is made up of Pashtuns, the federal government is piecing together the family’s history to see if they are affiliated with the terrorist organization.
Siddique posted a video from the show only hours before his sons shooting rampage. The title of the video is “Provisional Government of Afghanistan — Seddique Mateen.” In it Seddique appears to be impersonating the Afghani president, while dressed in army fatigues, and orders the arrest of several Afghani political figures. In the video he stated:
“I order national army, national police and intelligence department to immediately imprison Karzai, Ashraf Ghani, Zalmay Khalilzad, Atmar and Sayyaf. They are against our countrymen and against our homeland,”
The purpose of the videos seems to be an attempt by Siddique to make himself appear important in the field of Afghani politics. However, according to one senior Afghan government official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to media, stated his show is not taken seriously. He claims Siddique has made delusional statments such as claiming he was the Afghan president in exile. He would go off on tangents and ramble incoherently throughout the show. The senior official commented on the show by saying:
“People would make jokes of this guy, especially after videos surfaced of him claiming to be the president in exile, He looked very serious, but no one could tell what he was talking about.”
His most controversial video features him expressing gratitude towards the Afghan Taliban while denouncing the Pakistani government. He stated at one point during the show:
“Our brothers in Waziristan, our warrior brothers in [the] Taliban movement and national Afghan Taliban are rising up,”
Seddique’s show is currently being reviewed by governement officials to determine whether or not it indicates any ties between the family and terrorist organizations.
See an example of Seddique hosting the show below.
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