The United States is still in shock following a deadly Orlando terror attack perpetuated by Omar Mateen; now reports indicate that the Orlando terrorist’s Afghan-born father,Seddique Mateen, is a known supporter of the Taliban. Seddique Mateen spoke for his son in an NBC News interview on Sunday. He swore to interviewers that the terrorist attack had “nothing to do with religion.”

According to Seddique Mateen, his son’s incomprehensible slaughter of 53 innocent people at a gay club and the injury of 50 more had nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with homophobia. Seddique Mateen said that his son once saw two men kissing in downtown Miami and his wife and son witnessed the public display of affection as well. According to the suspected terrorist’s father, Omar became “very angry” at that point, which led to the terrorist attack that took place in Orlando early Sunday morning.

“We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident. We weren’t aware of any action he is taking. We are in shock like the whole country.”

In the aftermath of the Orlando terrorist attacks, however, new information about Seddique Mateen is coming to light. Disturbing new information that places Seddique Mateen, the father of the Orlando gunman, in a position of being a vocal supporter of the Afghan Taliban. Seddique Mateen is a native of Afghanistan, and it isn’t clear when he relocated to the United States. He has not responded to media messages, his phone appears to have been turned off, and he hasn’t responded to email queries, either, reports Reuters.

While Seddique Mateen, who public records indicate lives in Florida, didn’t say much to the media beyond his NBC News interview, people who know him are beginning to talk, and what they are saying is very disconcerting in light of the recent Orlando terror attack. According to Omar Khatab, who owns a California-based television channel Payam-e-Afghan, says that Seddique Mateen has bought time on his channel so that he could broadcast a show titled “Durand Jirga.” The show “focused in part on the disputed Durand Line, the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan demarcated by the Indian subcontinent’s former British rulers.”

“Three or four times a year, he would show up in Southern California. He’d talk for about two to three hours. He’d buy his own time and come here and broadcast and leave within a day.”

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According to the owner of the satellite television channel, Seddique Mateen’s political views were “anti-Pakistan” and pro-Taliban. In one of his videos, Seddique Mateen referred to Pakistan’s main intelligence service as the “creator and father of the world’s terrorism.”

Despite Seddique Mateen’s assertions that his son’s monstrous actions were not inspired by religion, it has been reported that the Orlando terrorist may have pledged allegiance to ISIS.

According to a Washington Post report, in a YouTube video uploaded just hours before the attack, Seddique Mateen, the shooter’s father, portrayed himself as the President of Afghanistan, and in another video he explicitly praised and expressed gratitude toward the Taliban.

“Our brothers in Waziristan, our warrior brothers in [the] Taliban movement and national Afghan Taliban are rising up. Inshallah the Durand Line issue will be solved soon.”

The Washington Post reports that the most recent of Seddique Mateen’s YouTube videos features the father of the Florida nightclub shooter actually declaring himself a candidate for the Afghan presidency. The report noted the “strange timing” of the video by Seddique Mateen, as it was posted a year after Afghan held presidential elections. The Washington Post also notes that Seddique Mateen appears “incoherent” in certain parts of the YouTube video, and doesn’t seem to have a clear grasp on the topics he’s addressing.

As the investigation into the Orlando terror attacks continues, it is likely that law enforcement will be catching up with Seddique Mateen in the coming days and weeks to investigate any ties he may have to the Taliban or knowledge he may have had of his son’s premeditated crime.

[Photo by Gerardo Mora/Getty Images]