Abdul Salam Zaeef
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Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef عبدالسلام ضعيف |
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Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan | |
Personal details | |
Born | 1968 (age 55–56) Afghanistan |
Political party | Islamic and National Revolution Movement of Afghanistan Taliban |
Religion | Islam (Deobandi)[1] |
Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef (i/ˈæbdʊl səˈlɑːm zɑːˈiːf/; born 1968 in Kandahar) was the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan before the US invasion of Afghanistan.[2]
He was detained in Pakistan in the fall of 2001 and held until 2005 in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp.[2] The United Nations removed Zaeef from its list of terrorists in July 2010.[3]
Contents
Capture and detention
Following the U.S. invasion, Zaeef was forced to end his news conferences, seized by Pakistani authorities, and handed over to American operatives.[2] The Pajhwok Afghan News reported that Zaeef was freed from Guantanamo Bay.[4]
Repatriation
Zaeef was released from Guantanamo in the summer of 2005.[5]
An article in the Daily Times on 18 September 2005, Zaeef is quoted as saying that his release was "due to the effort of some friends".[6] 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.[7]
Recent work
Call for a unity government
On 12 April 2007 Zaeef stirred controversy by calling for a unity-government in Afghanistan.[7]
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:[8]
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"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."[7] The article in Der Spiegel 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 Spiegel 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.[9]
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- "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.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] The McClatchy reports state that guards told him he was the "King of the prison", and that he took a lead role in the Guantanamo hunger strikes. They also state 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.[20][21] 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.[22]
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.[23]
In January 2010, an English translation of Abdul Salam Zaeef's autobiography was published, My Life with the Taliban.[24][25] The book has been reviewed positively as offering a powerful look into what "drives" the Taliban.[26]
Lawsuit
In October 2008, Zaeef said he would sue Pakistan for his arrest there in 2002.[27]
THiNK 2013
In 2013 Mullah Zaeef met with Robert Grenier at a conference in which they discussed the invasion and the general positions of the Taliban government and the United States.[28]
Flees harassment by US Forces
On 9 April 2012, Al Jazeera reported that Zaeef had fled for his life.[29][30][31][32][33] He fled to the United Arab Emirates. Al Jazeera quoted associates close to Zaeef who described repeated US attempts by US forces to raid Zaeef's house and seize him. Zaeef had been in protective custody by the Afghan government since his release from Guantanamo. Quoting Al Jazeera's Waheed Muzhda:
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Zaeef feared for his life in the wake of the attempted raids on his home. Many of the Taliban prisoners freed from Guantanamo had been killed in night raids and that made Zaeef more nervous.
See also
References
- ↑ Deobandi Islam: The Religion of the Taliban U. S. Navy Chaplain Corps, 15 October 2001
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-30/taliban-author-ambassador-removed-from-un-terrorist-list.html
- ↑ Taliban ambassador Zaeef freed from Guantanamo Bay, Pajhwok Afghan News
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- ↑ No law at Guantanamo Bay prison, says Zaeef, Daily Times, 18 September 2005
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- ↑ 24 Hours, "Taliban denies peace talks", 7 October 2008
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- ↑ Paris,France. ISBN 978-2-84267-945-3
- ↑ Abdul Salam Zaeef, My Life With the Taliban (London: Hurst Publishers; New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2010).
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- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGHyK_E5EOg
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External links
- Abdul Salam Zaeef collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Works by or about Abdul Salam Zaeef in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Muallah Abdus Salam Zaeef in an interview 2013
- 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 Andy Worthington, 12 December 2010
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- My Life With the Taliban, English translation of memoirs, published by Hurst & Columbia University Press
- Articles with dead external links from November 2010
- Use dmy dates from September 2013
- 1968 births
- Afghan extrajudicial prisoners of the United States
- Living people
- Afghan politicians
- Afghan diplomats
- Pashtun people
- People from Kandahar
- Taliban spokespersons
- Guantanamo detainees known to have been released
- Bagram Theater Internment Facility detainees
- Ambassadors of Afghanistan to Pakistan