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Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef (born 1968 in Kandahar) was the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan before the US invasion of Afghanistan.[1]

He was detained in Pakistan in the fall of 2001 as an and held until 2005 in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp.[1]

The United Nations removed Zaeef from its list of terrorists in July 2010.[2]

Capture and detention[]

Some time after the U.S. invasion, Zaeef was forced to end his news conferences, seized by Pakistani authorities, and handed over to American operatives.[1] The Pajhwok Afghan News has reported that Zaeef has been freed from Guantanamo Bay.[3]

Combatant Status Review[]

Main article: Combatant Status Review Tribunal

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal, listing the allegations that led to his detainment. His memo accused him of the following:[4]

a. The detainee is a member of the Taliban:
  1. The detainee admitted joining the Taliban in 1996.
  2. The detainee was appointed to the position of president of the Central Bank of Afghanistan by the leader of the Taliban.
  3. The detainee was then appointed to the position of the Deputy Afghanistan Minister of Mining and Industry by the leader of the Taliban.
  4. The detainee then served for 3 months in the Taliban government as the head of the Transportation Ministry in Kabul, Afghanistan.
  5. The detainee's last position was as the Taliban government's ambassador to Pakistan, where he served for approximately 18 months until his arrest in December 2001.
  6. In the beginning of the Taliban's rise to power, operational commanders of the Taliban and al Qaida forces in the Shomali and Kabul regions of Afghanistan reported to the detainee as the Deputy of Defense for the Taliban.
  7. As the Ambassador ot Pakistan for the Taliban government, the detainee had direct ties to senior Taliban members.


Letter for Wali Mohammed[]

Zaeef wrote a letter on behalf of Wali Mohammed, an Afghan businessman whose case he considered when he sat on the Economic Council of Afghanistan.[5] Zaeef didn't meet Mohammed until they were both sent to Afghanistan.

Repatriation[]

Zaeef was released from Guantanamo in the summer of 2005.[6]

An article in the 18 September 2005 Daily Times Zaeef is quoted as saying that his release was "due to the effort of some friends".[7] He did not attribute his release to his Combatant Status Review Tribunal or his 2005 Administrative Review Board hearing. He described the actions of these two bodies as illegal.

Abuse claims[]

Zaeef claims he was chained in illegal "stress positions" and subjected to sleep deprivation and extremes of temperature while held in the USA's Bagram Theater Detention Facility.[8]

Recent work[]

Call for a unity government[]

On 12 April 2007 Zaeef stirred controversy by calling for a unity-government in Afghanistan.[8]

On Friday 6 June 2008 The Guardian published excerpts from an interview with Zaeef. It reported he claimed negotiations with the Taliban was the key to peace. And it reported he argued that the presence of foreign troops eroded the authority of the central government[9]:

"As long as the foreign troops are here, negotiations with the government will be difficult."

Move to Kabul[]

An article in Der Spiegel on 12 April 2007, reported that Zaeef had moved into a "...handsome guest house, located in the dusty modern neighborhood Khosh Hal Khan."[8] The Der Spiegel article goes on to state that the new home Karzai's government has provided Zaeef is around the corner from one occupied by former Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil. Der Spiegel described Zaeef's home as being guarded, inside and out, by a heavily armed security detail. Der Spiefel described both Zaeef and Muttawakil as regarded as among the more moderate former members of the Taliban.

Zaeff told the Chicago Tribune that Afghan security officials would not allow him to attend the mosque near his Kabul home.[10]

"There is a mosque near my house. The government told me, 'Please don't go to the mosque,' for my security. If I can't go to the mosque, how can I work?"

McClatchy interview[]

On 15 June 2008 the McClatchy News Service published articles based on interviews with 66 former Guantanamo captives. McClatchy reporters interviewed Abdul Salam Zaeef.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] The McClatchy reports states that guards told him he was the "King of the prison". The McClatchy reports states that he took a lead role in the Guantanamo hunger strikes. The McClatchy reports states that guards in the Kandahar detention facility made him pointlessly move human excrement back and forth.

Saudi peace talks[]

Zaeef acknowledged being invited by Saudi King Abdullah to unofficially meet with other leading Afghan figures, from the Karzai government, the Taliban, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami and other former members of the Taliban.[21][22] Zaeef denied this meeting should be characterized as "peace talks". He stated that none of the individuals at this meeting had been authorized to conduct negotiations. Zaeef denied anyone discussed Afghanistan at this meeting. According to The Age other figures who attended the meeting included former Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil and former Supreme Court Chief Justice Fazel Hadi Shinwari.

Publications[]

Zaeef released a book in the Pashto language, "A Picture of Guantanamo," detailing his claims of mistreatment at Guantanamo.[23]

In October 2008, Abdul Salam Zaeef edited in Paris with the French journalist Jean-Michel Caradec'h, a recent book: "Prisonnier à Guantanamo". EGDV/Documents. 2008.[24]

In January 2010, Abdul Salam Zaeef published a book: "My Life With the Taliban". Hurst Publishers and Columbia University Press. 2010.[25][26] The book has been reviewed positively as offering a powerful look into what "drives" the Taliban.[27]

Lawsuit[]

In October 2008, Zaeef said he would sue Pakistan for his arrest there in 2002.[28]

See also[]

File:P vip.svg Biography portal

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Torture and Abuse on the USS Bataan and in Bagram and Kandahar: An Excerpt from “My Life with the Taliban” by Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef [1] Abdul Salam Zaeef 2010
  2. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-30/taliban-author-ambassador-removed-from-un-terrorist-list.html
  3. Taliban ambassador Zaeef freed from Guantanamo Bay, Pajhwok Afghan News
  4. OARDEC (6 October 2004). "Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Zaeef, Abdul Salam". United States Department of Defense. pp. page 43. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000300-000399.pdf#43. Retrieved 12 October 2007. 
  5. Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Hajji Wali Mohammed's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - page 3
  6. Ex-Taliban envoy released from Guantanamo Bay [2] Behroz Khan 13 September 2005[dead link]
  7. No law at Guantanamo Bay prison, says Zaeef, Daily Times, 18 September 2005
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Ex-Taliban Official Calls for Unity Government in Afghanistan [3] Olaf Ihlau 12 April 2007
  9. Talking to the Taliban: Afghan politicians increasingly believe negotiations with the ousted Taliban regime are the key to peace [4] Nushin Arbabzadah 6 June 2008
  10. Ex-Guantanamo Bay detainees fighting to fit in and feeling the pull to join the Taliban or Al Qaeda [5] Kim Barker 4 March 2009 mirror
  11. Guantanamo Inmate Database: Page 2 [6] Tom Lasseter 15 June 2008 mirror
  12. U.S. hasn't apologized to or compensated ex-detainees [7] Tom Lasseter 18 June 2008 mirror
  13. Pentagon declined to answer questions about detainees [8] Tom Lasseter 15 June 2008 mirror
  14. Documents undercut Pentagon's denial of routine abuse [9] Tom Lasseter 16 June 2008 mirror
  15. Deck stacked against detainees in legal proceedings [10] Tom Lasseter 19 June 2008 mirror
  16. U.S. abuse of detainees was routine at Afghanistan bases [11] Tom Lasseter 16 June 2008 mirror
  17. Guantanamo Inmate Database: Abdul Salam Zaeef [12] Tom Lasseter 15 June 2008 mirror
  18. Former Taliban ambassador, free from Guantanamo, is under close watch [13] Tom Lasseter 14 June 2008 mirror
  19. Taliban ambassador wielded power within Guantanamo [14] Tom Lasseter 19 June 2008 mirror
  20. Guantanamo prisoner opens new era of court challenges [15] Michael Doyle, Marisa Taylor 20 June 2008 mirror
  21. Taliban and Afghan officials break bread [16] 7 October 2008 mirror
  22. 24 Hours, "Taliban denies peace talks", 7 October 2008
  23. Ex-Taliban Details Guantanamo 'Humiliation' [17] Zeeshan Haider 30 July 2006
  24. Paris,France. ISBN 978-2-84267-945-3
  25. London and New York. ISBN 978-1849040266
  26. Alternative discourse [18] Qurat ul ain Siddiqui 2010-08-29 mirror
  27. A Review of: “Abdul Salam Zaeef. My Life With the Taliban (ed. and tran. Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn).” [19] Ryan Shaffer October 2010
  28. Taleban official to sue Pakistan [20] 14 October 2008 mirror

External links[]


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