Released Gitmo detainee leading taliban in Helmand province

Mullah Zakir, aka Abdul Qayum Zakir, also known as Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, was a senior fighter for the taliban in the 90s and surrendered to US forces in 2001. He was transferred to Gitmo in 2006, transferred to Afghan custody in 2007 and released in 2008.

Some of the factors that favored his release were: he did not know who Osama bin Laden was, he never attended any jihadi training camps, he was conscripted into the taliban in 95 and rejoined in 98 to get medical attention, and the Casio watches, similar to ones used by al Qaida in previous bombins, found on Zakir "belonged to someone else".

I used the same line on my parents when they found my cigarettes back when I went to high school. "They're not mine, they're my friend's. He didn't have any pockets so I held on to them for him."


Hopefully this time around the Marines will give Zakir a one was ticket to hell. New York Post

KABUL, Afghanistan -- As Marine Corps forces roll into southern Afghanistan, they face an enemy familiar to US officials -- Mullah Zakir, a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner who now leads a reconstituted Taliban.[...]

Zakir wasted little time rekindling his relationship with the Taliban, especially its inner shura, or leadership council, based in Pakistan. According to some accounts, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar appointed Zakir as a senior military commander in mid-2008. He quickly developed a reputation as a charismatic leader.[...]

Early this year, he began to reorganize the Taliban. He helped create an "accountability commission" to monitor and evaluate the performance of key Taliban leaders and track spending.[...]

They called it Operation Nasrat ("victory") and pledged to use "ambushes, offensives, explosions, martyrdom-seeking attacks, and surprise attacks." The Taliban also warned that they would attack "military units of the invading forces, diplomatic centers, mobile convoys and high-ranking officials" of the Afghan government.

As Marines move through Helmand, they will be on the lookout for Zakir and his support network. But like many senior Taliban leaders, Zakir spends a lot of time in Pakistani cities like Quetta and Karachi, frightened he'll be killed in an attack.

Read the whole article.