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“Former Gitmo detainee leads top Taliban council”
By BILL ROGGIO
March 23, 2010 11:09 AM

SNIPPET: “Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has named two new leaders to replace the head of its leadership council, who was detained in Pakistan earlier this year. One of the two new leaders was released from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in 2007.

Mullah Abdul Qayum Zakir and Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansur have been named by Omar to replace Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a Taliban operative named Abu Zabihullah told Newsweek.”

SNIPPET: “Zakir is a former detainee at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility who was released by the US in December 2007 and sent to Afghanistan, where he was subsequently released by the Afghan government. Zakir, whose real name is Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, quickly rejoined the Taliban and took over operations in the strategic Afghan South.”

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/03/former_gitmo_detaine_3.php

“Former Gitmo detainee targeting Afghan charities”
By THOMAS JOSCELYN & BILL ROGGIO
March 24, 2010 8:26 AM

SNIPPET: “A former Guantanamo detainee transferred from the detention facility to Afghanistan on Dec. 19, 2009, has already returned to the Taliban’s ranks, according to multiple intelligence officials contacted by the Long War Journal. The former detainee was identified in documents produced at Guantanamo as Abdul Hafiz (as well as an alternative name, Abdul Qawi) and given an internment serial number of 1030.

During the more than six years he was held at Guantanamo, Hafiz was repeatedly identified as “a suspect in the murder of an International Red Cross worker in Afghanistan.” Memos produced at Guantanamo also alleged that Hafiz participated in the jihad against the Soviets, ran madrassas and recruited young men to fight for the Taliban, was “responsible for maintaining contacts with Mullah Mohammed Omar,” and fought in a 40-man militia comprised of fighters from the Taliban and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s insurgency group. [For a profile of Hafiz, see LWJ report: “Gitmo detainee implicated in Red Cross murder transferred to Afghanistan.”]

Despite the fact that Hafiz was implicated in the murder of an ICRC worker, and alleged to have substantial ties to senior Taliban officials, he was transferred to Afghanistan. Shortly thereafter, Hafiz rejoined the Taliban.

Targeting charities in Afghanistan

Earlier this week, Newsweek’s Declassified blog reported that Mullah Omar had replaced Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Omar’s top military deputy, with two Taliban militia leaders after Baradar was captured in Pakistan last month. The two Taliban militia leaders are Mullah Abdul Qayum Zakir, himself a former Gitmo detainee, and Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor.”

Previously...

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/12/gitmo_detainee_impli.php

“Gitmo detainee implicated in Red Cross murder transferred to Afghanistan”
By THOMAS JOSCELYN
December 23, 2009 1:05 PM

SNIPPET: “The US government transferred an Afghan implicated in the killing of a Red Cross worker from Guantanamo to his home country last week. The former Gitmo detainee, Abdul Hafiz, was reportedly captured by US Special Forces in Afghanistan in April 2003. That raid targeted suspected terrorists who were involved in the kidnapping and murder of Ricardo Munguía, an employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), on March 27, 2003.

“We believe we have killed the assassin that attacked the ICRC worker,” Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Doug Lefforge said at the time. Seven others were captured, including a few who were suspected of involvement in Munguía’s killing. “Now that we have these people, we can verify which group they’re from,” Lefforge added. “They are still being interrogated.”

Abdul Hafiz was shipped off to Guantanamo, where his interrogations continued. While he was detained at Gitmo, Hafiz was repeatedly accused of being a “suspect” with “links” to Munguía’s murder.

For instance, a Feb. 22, 2005 memo prepared for Hafiz’s first administrative review board hearing at Gitmo identifies him as “a suspect in the murder of an International Red Cross worker in Afghanistan.” Other documents prepared at Gitmo identify Munguía as the Red Cross worker in question.

Hafiz was also accused of being “affiliated with the death of two individuals in Kabul, Afghanistan.” It is not clear who those two individuals are, however, as they are not identified in the US government’s documents.

A key piece of evidence pointing to Hafiz’s role in Munguía’s killing was his satellite phone, which “has been linked to the ICRC murder,” according to memos prepared by US officials. During his combatant status review tribunal (CSRT) and administrative review board (ARB) hearings at Gitmo, Hafiz did not deny that he was in possession of the satellite phone, which had his fingerprints all over it.”