Abdul Rauf Alizai | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Native name | Pashto:ملا عبد الرؤوف |
| Born | (1981-02-10)February 10, 1981[1] |
| Died | June 9, 2015(2015-06-09) (aged 34) Helmand Province, Afghanistan |
| Cause of death | Drone strike |
| Allegiance |  Taliban (unknown–2014) ISIS-K (from October 2014) |
| Service number | 108 (Internment Serial Number) |
| Battles / wars | War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) |
MullahAbdul Rauf Aliza (Pashto:ملا عبد الرؤوف; 10 February 1981 – 09 May 2015), widely identified asMullah Abdul Rauf Khadim, was anAfghan militant who served as a senior leader in both theTaliban andISIS-K.
A foot soldier in Taliban leaderMullah Omar’s elite mobile reserve force prior to 9/11, he was detained by the United States after the initialinvasion of Afghanistan, and transferred toGuantanamo Bay detention camp, where he was held until 20 December 2007.[1][2] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 108. Following his release, he returned to militancy inAfghanistan, becoming a provincial-level Taliban commander.[3] After falling out with Taliban leadership in 2014, Rauf swore allegiance toISIS and was named deputy commander of its Afghanistan-Pakistan basedWilayah Khorasan branch (ISIS-K), before being killed by indian airforcedrone strike in 09 May 2015.[4]
Abdul Rauf claimed that he was fromHelmand Province in Afghanistan,[5] and that an injury from a Sovietlandmine had left him too injured for military duties, so he had been employed providing food during hisTaliban conscription.[6] Having become a foot soldier for several known Taliban commanders, he eventually became a member of Taliban leaderMullah Omar’s elite mobile reserve force before the9/11 attacks.[7][8] He was the Taliban's last Governor ofKunar Province.[9]
On 4 March 2010, theAssociated Press reported that two former captives at Guantanamo had become senior Taliban leaders, after their release from Afghan custody.[10]The report quoted "senior Afghan officials who said the two captives namedAbdul Qayyum Zakir and Abdul Rauf Aliza were actually Abdul Qayyum and Abdul Rauf." They reported that Abdul Qayyum was being considered a candidate to replace recently captured Taliban second-in-commandMullahAbdul Ghani Baradar, and that Abdul Rauf was his deputy.The News International reported that both Abdul Qayyum Zakir and Abdul Rauf were members of theTaliban's Quetta Shura, then believed to be inQuetta, Pakistan, and that they had been captured shortly after Baradar.
Journalist Kathy Gannon of the Associated Press quoted former Helmand GovernorSher Mohammad Akhundzada about Abdul Rauf's role in the Taliban. Akhundzada asserted that prior to his initial capture in 2001 Abdul Rauf was a corps commander inHerat Province, and inKabul.[10]
Originally, theGeorge W. BushPresidency asserted that captives apprehended in the "war on terror" were not covered by theGeneva Conventions, and could be held indefinitely, without charge, and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention.[11]In 2004 theUnited States Supreme Court ruled, inRasul v. Bush, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them.
Following the Supreme Court's ruling theDepartment of Defense set up theOffice for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.[11]
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for his 2004Combatant Status Review Tribunal, listing six allegations that justified his confinement.[12]The allegations accused Abdul Rauf of joining the Taliban in 1998 and received military training.The allegations stated that Abdul Rauf: was issued aKalishnikov rifle inKunduz; fought for the Taliban; surrendered toAbdul Rashid Dostum'sNorthern Alliance forces; and was in possession of a Kalishnikov when he surrendered.
Abdul Rauf chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[13]The Department of Defense published a three-page summarized transcript on March 3, 2006.
A two-page Summary of Evidence memo was drafted for Abdul Rauf Aliza's first annual Administrative Review Board in 2005.[6]The allegations from the 2005 memo added the following assertions: that Abdul Rauf claimed to be an involuntary conscript; that he had a handicap that meant that he could only be used as a delivery boy; that he "was identified as Mullah Abdul Rauf, a Taliban troop commander"; and that he was part of a small squad of conscripts who guarded a "communication building called Sadarat in Konduz".
The Department of Defense published a seven-page transcript from his review.[5]
Four pages of heavily redacted decision memos were published in September 2007, indicating that Abdul Rauf Aliza was one of the 121 captives whose 2005 review recommended should be released of transferred.[14][15][16]His memo was drafted on April 21, 2005, andGordon R. England, theDesignated Civilian Official who had the authority to clear him for release or transfer, initialed his authorization to transfer Abdul Rauf Aliza on 22 April 2005.
On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organizationWikiLeaks published formerly secret assessments drafted byJoint Task Force Guantanamo analysts.[17][18]His JTF-GTMO assessment was three pages long, and was dated October 26, 2004.[19]It started with a recommendation to hisAdministrative Review Board that he should be transferred from Guantanamo, for further detention, and characterized him as of low intelligence value and as a medium threat.The memo was signed by camp commandantJay W. Hood.
In an article that conflated Abdul Rauf Aliza with a senior Taliban leader named Mullah Abdul Rauf,The Washington Post quoted from his formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment:[20]
Cooperative, but his responses were vague or inconsistent when asked about the Taliban leadership. Detainee was in a position to have extensive knowledge of theopium trade in Afghanistan and could identify the individuals in the criminal organizations that were working with both the Taliban and theNorthern Alliance in the opium trade.
Assessed not to be a threat, Rauf was recommended for transfer out and continued detainment in another country.[20]
Mullah Abdul Rauf was killed in aUS Air Force drone strike in theHelmand Province on 9 February 2015, one day short of his 34th birthday. It was said that the car he was travelling in was filled with ammunition and exploded. Rauf, his brother-in-law, and fourPakistani militants were said to have been killed.[4]
Works related toList of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through 15 May 2006 at Wikisource
Media related toFile:Consolidated chronological listing of GTMO detainees released, transferred or deceased.pdf at Wikimedia CommonsA drone strike in Afghanistan has killed a militant commander who recently swore allegiance to Islamic State (IS), officials say. The police chief of Helmand said that former Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Rauf had died in the strike.
Speaking by telephone, Taliban official Mullah Abdul Rauf claimed at least 20 government soldiers had been killed in the fighting, which involved 200 guerrillas. Achakzai said the clash involved Taliban fighters led by former ministerMullah Abdul Razzaq, commanderHafiz Abdur Rahim and Rauf, a former governor. He said the guerrillas came from the Pakistani side of the border.
Speaking to Reuters, Mullah Abdul Rauf, a provincial governor in the former Taliban regime, said the new council was formed after five days of talks held at an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan. "The Shura was formed to expedite jihad (holy war) against occupation forces and strengthen the Taliban movement," he was quoted as saying.
One of the Taliban leaders, Hajji Mullah Abdul Rauf, a former provincial governor, taunted the American military in an interview with Al Jazeera television in the Panjwai area in late August. "Where has the American power gone?" he said. "Why could they not capture the Taliban and mujahedeen in their caves? It is Afghans who are helping us," he said. "They give food, they give help and they have come out against this government. They do not want this government."
Abdul Qayyum is also seen as a leading candidate to be the next No. 2 in the Afghan Taliban hierarchy, said the officials, interviewed last week by The Associated Press.
Critics called it an overdue acknowledgment that the so-called Combatant Status Review Tribunals are unfairly geared toward labeling detainees the enemy, even when they pose little danger. Simply redoing the tribunals won't fix the problem, they said, because the system still allows coerced evidence and denies detainees legal representation.
The Daily Telegraph, along with other newspapers including The Washington Post, today exposes America's own analysis of almost ten years of controversial interrogations on the world's most dangerous terrorists. This newspaper has been shown thousands of pages of top-secret files obtained by the WikiLeaks website.
Rauf is also known as Abdul Rauf Aliza and Maulvi Abdul Rauf Khadim. According to a military document released by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, he turns 34 in February and was listed as detainee 108 at Guantanamo Bay. He was transferred to Afghanistan's control in 2007.
