LIFE for the last Taliban ambassador is becoming decidedly lonely. Before the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington blamed on Afghanistan’s ”guest” Osama bin Laden, US diplomats in Pakistan occasionally met Abdul Salam Zaeef, ambassador for Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban. Not now. When US ambassador Wendy Chamberlin arrived at a dinner on Wednesday night, she chatted to everyone at the party. Except Zaeef. Chamberlin slid by the ambassador without even a glance in his direction — quietly asking photographers to not have both of them in the same frame. An aide to Zaeef said earlier he would try to talk with the US envoy if she came to the dinner, hosted by a Pakistani politician. Instead the Afghans sat at a separate table and left early. Zaeef now heads the only Taliban embassy. Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, the only countries besides Pakistan to recognise the Taliban, have severed relations in recent days. – Reuters