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April 23, 2010 Taleban rift ignites power struggle over who controls the insurgency Jerome Starkey in Kabul Two of the Taleban’s most senior military commanders are involved in a bitter power struggle, which insiders claim has split the insurgents’ leadership council and could turn violent in parts of southern Afghanistan. The commanders are vying for military control of the insurgency, district elders and mid-level Taleban commanders have told The Times. Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir and Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor were both named as the successors to Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taleban’s second in command, who was arrested in Pakistan...

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - Plans to close Guantanamo are not sitting well with the Sept. 11 victims' relatives who sat stunned while two alleged terrorists declared they were proud of their role in the plot.

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Two Taliban ‘commanders’ among 20 killed SNIPPET: "MINGORA/KOHAT: Two Taliban ‘commanders’ were among 20 militants killed in clashes and air strikes in Swat and Orakzai Agency on Thursday. In Swat, 13 insurgents were killed in clashes with security forces on Thursday. According to Swat media centre, security personnel came under fire when they raided a Taliban hideout in Sigram area of Koza Bandai. During an exchange of fire, 10 militants and one soldier were killed. Detained militant commander Mohammad Naseem alias Abu Faraj was with the troops and he was also killed in the clash. Abu Faraj, a close aide...

"Reformed" Gitmo inmate killing Americans in Afghanistan Rick Moran His name is Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul (nickname: Zakir) and he surrendered to the American forces in Afghanistan in late 2001. Taken to Guantanamo, he spent 6 years in our custody until he was turned over to the Afghan government in 2007 when they promised to make sure he didn't pick up arms against the US again. Promises are cheap: Now as the United States is pushing ahead with the massive Operation Khanjar in the southern province of Afghanistan, Zakir is coordinating the Taliban fighters. Some 4,000 U.S. Marines and hundreds of...

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. Abdul Qayum Zakir, also known as Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, is from Helmand Province and has taken a circuitous route to become head of the radical Islamic group. Zakir was a senior fighter during the Taliban regime in the 1990s. In a memorandum prepared for his administrative review board at Guantanamo, Zakir apparently "felt it would be fine to wage jihad against Americans, Jews, or Israelis if they...

Senior al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban leaders are reported to have met with Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud to advise him to move his group's operations into Afghanistan and halt attacks against the Pakistani state. Several meetings were said to have been held last week after an 11-man delegation of al Qaeda and Taliban heavy hitters arrived in Waziristan to deliver a request from Mullah Omar, the Amir al Mumineen, or the leader of the faithful in Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to a report in The Nation. The Taliban dispatched Sirajuddin Haqqani, the powerful military commander of the Haqqani Network,...

A FORMER Guantanamo detainee has become the Taleban's operations officer in southern Afghanistan where he is launching attacks against British and American troops, it was reported last night. Adbullah Ghulam Rasoul was handed over to the Afghan government in December 2007, which in turn released him. Intelligence officials said he is now known as Mullah Abdullah Zakir and is working as a senior commander. British officials said they believed Rasoul was behind a rise in road-side bombings against British troops since spring 2008 when he was released from prison in Kabul. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said she...