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Haji Mullah Abdul Salaam Rocketi	Haji Mullah Abdul Salaam Rocketi	Taliban	Afghanistan-Pak-India				20051114	Link
Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef	Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef	Taliban	Afghanistan/South Asia				20010924

Afghanistan

Allied forces 'may abandon Helmand

2009-11-10

A new strategy for Afghanistan that could lead to a British troop withdrawal from a former Taliban stronghold in northern Helmand province has sparked an immediate controversy. Citing a senior NATO source, The Times reported that western military commanders in Afghanistan were considering a radical shift in policy that would see British and US forces conduct a tactical pullout from most of northern Helmand, including the town of Musa Qala. The source said the plan to withdraw from northern Helmand would be considered if proposed reinforcements, currently being examined by US President Barack Obama, were not approved. Gen Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Kabul, has asked for 40,000 more troops, but Obama is yet to make a decision. British military sources, however, said that a withdrawal from Musa Qala would be viewed as a defeat and could not be countenanced. They said it would also be a betrayal of the governor of the district, who risked his life to take a stand against the insurgents. Mullah Abdul Salaam -- a former Taliban commander -- switched sides to become district governor of Musa Qala only hours before British troops from 52 Brigade and Afghan soldiers retook the town from insurgent control in December 2007. British troops had withdrawn from Musa Qala in 2006 after a "deal" with the local tribal elders, but the Taliban seized control until the arrival of the 52 Brigade. The plans now being considered in Kabul would pull British and American troops out of the towns of Musa Qala and Nawzad to focus on stabilising the highly populated central areas of the province. The only remaining Western forces in the north of the province would be those defending the hydroelectric dam at Kajaki. The plans are the most radical among options being considered by Gen McChrystal under a broader plan to shift forces towards the defence of more populous areas of the country, ceding outlying and remote areas. The new doctrine is focused on concentration of forces around population centres, main arteries and economic corridors with the ultimate aim of protecting the population and allowing intensive reconstruction. A senior NATO officer confirmed that proposals existed for a pullout from Nawzad and Musa Qala, but said, "No decision has been made." The senior British military sources insisted that total withdrawal from Musa Qala was not an option, but acknowledged it was possible that the area in which troops currently operated in the district could be reduced to make available more resources for improving security in places such as Kandahar and Lashkar Gah. Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the chief of the defence staff, also denied that Britain was planning to pull out of Musa Qala, but he confirmed show that NATO'S International Security Assistance Force would be focusing more on Afghanistan's main population centres.

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Afghanistan

Afghan tech boom: Mullah Zaeef embraces iPhone

2009-03-05

Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef is a former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan. He spent almost four years in Guantanamo. He wears a black turban, has a thick beard -- and is never without his Apple iPhone. The ultra-conservative Taliban banned modern technology like the Internet and TV during its 1996-2001 rule, but those items have boomed in Afghanistan since the regime's 2001 ouster, helping to bring the country into the 21st century. Zaeef, who reconciled with the Afghan government after being released from US custody, says he uses his iPhone to surf the Internet and find difficult locations, employing the built-in GPS. He even checks his bank account balance online. "It's easy and modern and I love it," Zaeef said as he pinched and pulled his fingers across the iPhone's touch screen last week. "This is necessary in the world today. People want to progress." Check out the new iApp, 'Predator' ... Beyond making life easier, some say the country's embrace of technology could help break the cycle of 30 years of relentless warfare. Young Afghans see the world differently from older Afghans because of their use of the Internet and mobile phones, and their participation in sports, said Shukria Barakzai, a female lawmaker and former newspaper editor. Afghanistan's youth are not caught up in "the old circle of war," she said. "They are engaging with the rest of the world. That's why technology is so important for Afghanistan." As an example she uses the popular television show Afghan Star, a version of the American Idol-style singing contest, which draws millions of viewers each week, both young and old. Viewers vote for a winner by text messaging, helping to promote democratic practices, she said. Eight years ago Afghanistan had only a few hundred cell phone users, mostly members of the Taliban government. Today it has more than eight million, meaning roughly one in four Afghans uses a mobile phone, according to government figures. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in a speech earlier this year that Afghanistan was "in the Middle Ages" when the Taliban was toppled. Today, he said, half the country is at peace and access to education and health care are up 10-fold. "When I saw an Afghan fellow pull out his Apple iPhone in Kabul, while I was talking on my 5-year-old NATO mobile, I saw another symbol of progress," he said of a recent trip to Afghanistan. The Afghan capital has one gleaming mall, with glass elevators and escalators and a rare European-style coffee shop. Electronic stores stocked with GPS units, Sony PlayStations, flat screen TVs and iPods fill the shopping centre. Faridullah, the owner of an electronics store who like many Afghans goes by one name, said he sells about four iPhones a month to wealthy Afghans. The price in Kabul has dropped from $1,100 one month ago to about $800 today, he said. "The country is really progressing now. Nine years ago the country didn't know about mobile phones. We can't compare today to nine years ago," he said. "It's like a custom now in Afghanistan that even if someone doesn't have enough money to eat he'll still carry an expensive cell phone." Still, the average annual income in Afghanistan is just $800, so shop owners must target the ultra-wealthy and foreigners. Most Afghans never have heard of an iPhone. "It's still pretty expensive," Jawid, the owner of another electronics store, said of iPhones and other modern gadgets. Zaeef, the former Taliban official, said he has always been interested in technology despite his militant links. He used a laptop and satellite phone to access the Internet in the late 1990s, and now he surfs the web an hour a day, he said. Zaeef said he tried to persuade top Taliban officials to let Afghans have more access to modern electronics in the late 1990s, and he noted that the Taliban itself now embraces technology.

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Afghanistan

Mullah Abdul Salaam blames Pakistanis and Iranians for attacks on British

2008-07-06

The Governor of Musa Qala, Mullah Abdul Salaam, gave warning yesterday that infiltrators from Pakistan and Iran were deliberately attempting to escalate the conflict in Afghanistan. The Governor, who was formerly a Taleban commander, said that the insurgency attacks against coalition forces, which have accounted for the worst coalition casualty figures in a single month since the war began, were now principally the work of outsiders rather than the Taleban. "They come from Pakistan, they come from Iran," Mullah Salaam said in an interview with The Times and two other newspapers. "They are doing their action in Afghanistan against their enemy." He claimed that it was Pakistanis and Iranians who were responsible for planting improvised explosive devices, the crude but deadly homemade bombs, of which intelligence sources estimate there are 500 in the Musa Qala district alone. "It is like a sickness that everybody is doing suicide bombs. There is nothing like suicide bombs in our religion. It is nothing to do with our religion." The Governor, who spoke in the office of his compound in the heavily protected District Centre of Musa Qala, insisted that the war against the Taleban and its allies was being waged in the name of democracy. "Yes, people are ready for democracy," he said, "but a democracy which is a little bit different from foreign democracy. We have our own Islamic rules and society. Our country has changed, our religion has changed, but they are doing their democracy in their own way." The Governor inevitably attracts suspicion from some of his new allies on account of his past allegiances, which led him to fight against British troops. Asked how safe he felt personally, he said: "The best security in Afghanistan is in Helmand province in Musa Qala." "The best security in Afghanistan is in Helmand province in Musa Qala. We have good security and it will get better." Since Musa Qala is under constant threat from the Taleban insurgency, it seemed a bold claim to make, but the Governor was insistent that security was well guaranteed by coalition forces acting alongside the Afghan National Army. "I think there is unity," he said. "I don't think there is any problem for us with unity." As for his relationship with President Karzai, which has occasionally come under strain, he said: "It is a good relationship with our President. We have good relations because he is our Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and I don't have any problem [with that]. If I had any problems with him I don't think I would be Governor any more." Mullah Salaam said that relations with the British troops stationed at Musa Qala were good, on the whole, but added: "Sometimes we have a little bit of problems with the new groups coming in who are not used to Afghans. But we have a good relationship." Asked to explain how he became a Taleban supporter in the first place, he said: "I joined the Mullah Omar group because there was a lot of activities in Afghanistan, and it was a new group in the name of Islam. Because they were Muslim people, I joined them, and I thought they would be good people, they would make our Afghanistan better and better. But there was a lot of groups which destroyed our country in the end." As for his personal ambitions, he concluded: "I will do my best for my people. I will do my very best for the people of Afghanistan. It was not my ambition to be the Governor but I am serving for my people and am delighted to be taking on this job."

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Afghanistan

US begs asks former Taliban commander to stop growing poppies!

2008-01-14

The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan flew to a town previously held by the Taliban in the heart of the world's largest poppy-growing region and told the ex-militant commander now in charge there that Afghans must stop "producing poison." Proving once and for all that some ambassadors have a serious sense of humor! Ambassador William Wood on Sunday drank tea and talked with Mullah Abdul Salaam, a former Taliban commander who defected to the government last month and is now the district leader of Musa Qala in the southern province of Helmand. Wood urged Salaam to tell his people to leave behind "the practice of producing poison," and said poppy production, the key element in the opium and heroin trade, was against the law and Islam. "In Musa Qala the price of bread has risen dramatically. I won't say why — you know why," Wood said, alluding to farmers' practice of growing poppies instead of needed food. Southern Afghanistan was the scene of the heaviest fighting in the country in 2007, the bloodiest year since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 toppled the Taliban militant movement. More than 6,500 people — mostly militants — were killed in violence last year, according to an Associated Press count based on official figures.

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Afghanistan

Former Taliban commander made Afghan governor

2008-01-09

A former Taliban commander who switched sides and helped NATO-led forces reclaim a troubled southern area in a major operation last year has been made local governor, officials said Tuesday. Abdul Salaam joined the government just before the start of the joint NATO-Afghan operation to retake Musa Qala in Helmand province, which was controlled by the Taliban for almost a year. Taliban forces withdrew in the face of the coalition attack and the district fell to British and Afghan forces on December 4. “Abdul Salaam has been appointed as the district chief of Musa Qala,” presidential spokesman Homayun Hamidzada told reporters Tuesday. “The president has said before that all those former Taliban who come and accept the constitution, who want to participate in the political process through non-violent means, they’re all welcome,” he said. “Mullah Abdul Salaam had a role in liberating Musa Qala from terrorist elements and he had a role in bringing unity among the different tribes,” he added. Deputy governor of Helmand province Pir Mohammad said Abdul Salaam was now running the district with local approval. “The government listened to the will of the locals on the appropriate governor for the district,” he said, adding that hundreds of villagers had attended meetings to choose the leadership council. “Finally the locals and tribesmen authorised the three-member council to appoint someone appropriate for the position and the council decided two days ago that Abdul Salaam was the right person,” Mohammad said. Salaam was once the governor of south central Uruzgan province under the six-year reign of the Taliban and mostly served as a military commander for them. He says he gave up fighting after the collapse of the regime and returned to civilian life, but he was arrested and jailed for eight months by the former governor of Helmand, Mullah Shir Mohammad, now a senator. After his release he became a member of the tribal council in Musa Qala, his home town.

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Afghanistan

NATO retakes Musa Qala after militants change sides

2007-12-11

BRITISH troops stormed into Musa Qala yesterday as Taleban fighters fled their fortress town. What was that guy saying about all of Afghanistan being Musa Qala? Soldiers from the 2nd Yorkshire Regiment, the Green Howards, pushed into the city with the Afghan army, as president Hamid Karzai revealed many local insurgents had swapped sides ahead of the overwhelming British assault. "Cheeze, Mahmoud! There sure are a lot of infidels out there!... Ummm... Mahmoud? Is that the Union Jack you're holding?" He said: "The Afghan Taleban, they met with me. They said that they wanted to swap sides, and that is what has happened." "We quit." "Okay." "Can we keep our guns?" "Okay." Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, has pledged more reconstruction aid for the country so that locals are not tempted to go back to the Taleban. He asked the British taxpayers first, of course, and they all thought it was a fine idea. British troops breached the Taleban stronghold after five days of intense artillery bombardment, backed up by fighter jets and helicopter airstrikes, and destroyed dozens of key insurgent positions. But they stopped short of the town centre, afraid the place is rigged with mines, bombs and booby traps, which have already claimed three soldiers' lives. No problem. Just send your new allies in to clean them out. Mr Karzai claimed Afghan fighters begged him to be allowed to defect after witnessing atrocities against innocent civilians in the town. Having your Mehsud allies roast a few locals will sometimes do that. Mullah Abdul Salaam, a former Taleban commander who controls thousands of men around Musa Qala, was reported to be in secret talks with the Afghan government to swap sides and fight with the British. He's a Pashtun, of course. But news of his alleged negotiations leaked, provoking a rift in Taleban ranks. Seems he's an Afghan Pashtun, not a Pak Pashtun. Al-Qaeda and other foreign fighters flocked to Musa Qala after it fell to the Taleban ten months ago, when a controversial British deal to hand it over to tribal elders backfired. "Yay! Hurrah! The Arabs and Other Foreign Fighters are here to defeat the hated British!" Speaking at a press conference with Mr Brown yesterday, the president said a local resident he met almost three months ago appealed to him to liberate the town, which prompted him to ask the British to launch a joint offensive with Afghan forces. More than 2,000 British troops, including Scots Guards, Household Cavalry and Royal Marines from 40 Commando, have been involved in the operation. And all because the old guy with the turban said "please." British troops set up a cordon around the town while crack American paratroopers from the so-called Taskforce Fury smashed a route through Taleban trenches, and "dug-in" with defensive positions. Last night the Taleban admitted they had abandoned Musa Qala in the face of almost certain defeat. "Ummm... Those ain't crack American paratroopers from the so-called Taskforce Fury, are they?" "I think they might be... Hey! Where'd the Arabs and Other Foreign Fighters go?" But the British denied reports the town had fallen completely. British troops on the outskirts of the town were last night "consolidating their positions". "We can wait. That's like walking into an explosive. Our new allies are gonna clean it out." At least two British soldiers have died in the operation. Trooper Jack Sadler, 21, from the brigade reconnaissance force, was killed by a roadside bomb in the area on 5 December and Sergeant Lee Johnson, 33, was killed by a mine on Saturday. A third soldier, whose nationality has not been released, was killed by a mine on Sunday. Dozens of Taleban were killed during the operation, and at least two children died in crossfire. Ahmad Wali, a Taleban fighter from Musa Qala, insisted morale remained high. He said: "I left with some fighters for a break. We are happy to go back and fight, but we will listen to our commanders." "They say head for Quetta."

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Afghanistan

Key tribal leader on verge of deserting Taliban

2007-10-30

An Afghan tribal leader is in talks to defect from the Taliban and take thousands of armed tribesmen with him to fight alongside British forces in southern Afghanistan. The Daily Telegraph has learned that the Afghan government hopes to seal the deal this week with Mullah Abdul Salaam and his Alizai tribe, which has been fighting alongside the Taliban in Helmand province. I've been waiting for us to do the tribal relations thing in Afghanistan as we've done with the Sunnis in Iraq. They're different situations to be sure, but we ought to be able to wheel and deal with the different subtribes in Pashtunistan, and the Taliban have been every bit as overbearing as al-Qaeda in Iraq. Diplomats confirmed yesterday that Mullah Salaam was expected to change sides within days. He is a former Taliban corps commander and governor of Herat province under the government that fell in 2001. Military sources said British forces in the province are "observing with interest" the potential deal in north Helmand, which echoes the efforts of US commanders in Iraq's western province to split Sunni tribal leaders from their al-Qa'eda allies. The Afghan deal would see members of the Alizai tribe around the Taliban-held town of Musa Qala quit the insurgency and pledge support to the Afghan government. It would be the first time that the Kabul government and its Western allies have been able exploit tribal divisions that exist within the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. Nato forces in Helmand have been monitoring mounting tensions within the Taliban around the towns of Musa Qala and Kajaki. "We have been aware in the last week that guns have been pulled and different armed camps formed within the Taliban in that area," said a military source. According to tribal elders in Helmand and Western diplomats in Kabul, Mullah Salaam had been attempting to negotiate with the Afghan government in secret. But details of the talks were leaked late last week to his erstwhile allies and this reportedly led to a split in the Taliban ranks. Other Taliban leaders have since plotted to assassinate Mullah Salaam. "Mullah Abdul Salaam is very influential and he has the support of thousands of our tribe," said Haji Saleem Khan, the head of the Shura (or tribal council) of the Alizai in Helmand. "When the Taliban found out that he planned to join the government three days ago they tried to kill him. But they have failed. Who wants to be the last man to die for the Taliban? ''These negotiations are still secret. We are going to see the government again today." Ssssshhhhh ....... Another tribal leader in Helmand, Haji Abdul Rahman Sabir, the former provincial police chief, said of Mullah Salaam: "He was a very powerful figure in both the jihad [against the Soviet Union] and also the Taliban time. He is being protected by his tribe. There are 200 fighters around his house and they are waiting for support from the government. It is very important that the government helps." A Western diplomat said that President Hamid Karzai had asked Nato forces to intervene in support of Mullah Salaam, but so far no Nato troops have been committed. Lt Col Richard Eaton, a spokesman for British forces in Helmand, said: "The solution in counter insurgency is always ultimately political. The military can set conditions but there must be a political process and in Afghanistan that will always include a tribal dynamic." Tribal friction and competition for power and resources in Helmand underpins the insurgent violence that has engulfed the province. The Itzakzai tribe in particular have been key Taliban supporters, principally because they have felt excluded from both provincial power and the province's lucrative drugs trade since 2001. Some sections of the Alizai, by contrast, have been dominant within both the drugs trade and provincial power structures. Sher Mohammad Akhundzada, the former provincial governor who was allegedly a kingpin in the local drugs trade, was an Alizai. However, within the Alizai are three sub-tribes and it is one of these, the Pirzai Alizai, that Mullah Salaam controls around Musa Qala. The town is a drug-growing area and has been a centre of Taliban power since the collapse of a British-backed truce between the local government and the Taliban in February.

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Afghanistan-Pak-India

Former commanders and Taliban among Afghan poll winners

2005-11-14

Final results of Afghanistan’s legislative elections show several former commanders of military factions, three old Taliban officials, women activists and several ex-communists won seats in the new parliament. The results of the September 18 vote for the 249-seat lower house, or Wolesi Jirga, and councils in all 34 provinces were finally released on Saturday, after being delayed by a slow count and accusations of vote fraud. Bissmillah Bissmil, chairman of the United Nations-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body, described the polls as a milestone in the country’s transition to democracy. The UN-organised elections were held on a non-party basis, with all 5,800 candidates running as independents, raising fears that a fragmented parliament will emerge, with members focused on parochial issues as they compete for government resources. That's often what parliaments do, y'know? Sometimes we call it "representing the interests of their constituents," rather than "focusing on parochial issues." President Hamid Karzai has no political party and stayed out of the fray, although several supporters, including two relatives, won parliamentary seats. Yunus Qanuni, leader of an alliance of parties opposed to the US-backed president, also won a seat. The former interior and education minister in Karzai’s government came a distant second to Karzai in the October 2004 presidential election. Qanuni’s brother Haji Baryali said Qanuni and his allies had hoped to win up to half the seats in parliament but it was unclear if they had achieved that goal. My guess is that they didn't, my hope is that they did... Qanuni is an ethnic Tajik and a senior leader of an alliance that helped US-led forces topple the Taliban in 2001, whereas Karzai is a Pashtun, the largest ethnic group and the one from which most Taliban were drawn. The vote was mostly based on ethnic lines because of the dominance of the tribes in their respective regions. Turnout was 6.8 million of about 12 million registered voters. If you've got a tribal system, which Afghanistan doesn't quite, then you've got to have some sort of proportional representation of the tribes. However, while they Pashtuns are tribal in outlook and organization, the remainder of the country isn't. There are Pashtun chiefs of clans, but Uzbek and Tajik and Hazara clans aren't nearly as much of a factor, and as far as I know none of the other ethnic groups are divided into tribes and subtribes like the Pashtuns are. Among others who won seats in the Wolesi Jirga were former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, a conservative ethnic-Tajik cleric from the north who is seen as a Karzai supporter and, according to associates, wants to become chairman of the parliament. Rabbani was, justifiably I believe, sour graping for awhile after the Talibs were ousted. He considered himself the legitimate president of Afghanistan, and I think he was. But he stepped down for the Bonn meeting and he's taken a back seat to Karzai. He's conservative, but he's most definitely not the Taliban. “I see the parliament as an alliance of Karzai with the fundamentalists,” said Abdul Hamid Mubariz, a politician and a former deputy information minister. “Karzai has made the alliance because of his weakness so it would not be a headache for him. Freedom of expression and democracy will suffer.” That last I can agree with. Karzai's had to make some convoluted alliances to assert his control, and he's surprised the hell out of anybody who's been paying attention. Nobody bleats that the Afghan gummint's writ doesn't extend outside of Kabul anymore. Parliament is expected to sit for the first time next month in a renovated old assembly building. One of parliament’s key jobs will be to approve or veto the nomination of cabinet members. An election for a new upper house will be completed by the end of this month. Brief, sternly suppressed vision of Robert Byrd in turban, deferring to "Mah distinguished colleague, the distinguished senator from Pashtunistan..." Several old armed faction commanders, labelled warlords and accused of war crimes by rights groups, also won seats. Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, from the Shia Muslim Hazara ethnic minority, won most votes in Kabul province. Former-commander Abdul Rabb Rasoul Sayyaf, a religious conservative, an ethnic Pashtun and a Karzai supporter, also won. Interesting, to see that Soddy Arabia's man in Afghanistan is a Karzai supporter. Hek and the Talibs were trying to woo him a couple years ago. I thought he'd bite, but he's a wiley devil... Three prominent former Taliban won seats in parliament - ex-commander Haji Mullah Abdul Salaam Rocketi, ex-provincial governor Mawlavi Islamuddin Mohammadi and a senior former security official, Hanif Shah Al-Hussein. Women obtained all 68 seats reserved for them in the Wolesi Jirga, but five provincial council seats in the conservative south and east were left vacant as too few candidates registered.

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Afghanistan

Talibs mobilizing 300,000

2001-09-24

Ha'aretz Taliban Defense Minister Mullah Obaidullah said Monday that Afghanistan was mobilizing an additional 300,000 men to help fight off any U.S. attack to punish Kabul for sheltering Osama bin Laden. Hundreds of thousands more were signing up to help fight a "jihad", or holy war, against any U.S. invasion, Obaidullah said in a statement sent to Reuters in Kabul. At a news conference in Islamabad, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef, also said Kabul was mobilizing for war in view of the U.S. threat to punish Afghanistan for sheltering Osama bin Laden. He gave no details. "All detachments of the national defense ministry are ready for the defense of their religion and country with full vigor and order," Obaidullah said in his statement. "In view of the current conditions, 300,000 well-experienced and equipped men have been stationed in the center (of the country), at borders and other significant areas in addition to its former detachments," he added.

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