Four of the five Taliban members released from Guantanamo Bay by the Obama administration in 2014 in exchange for the U.S. Army’s admitted deserter Bowe Bergdahl are part of the new hardline government of the Islamic fundamentalist group in Afghanistan, according to the local media.
The four members of the so-called “five Taliban” who have joined the new government are Acting Intelligence Director Abdul Haq Wasiq, Acting Minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs Norullah Noori, Deputy Defense Minister Mohammad Fazl and the acting Minister of Information and Culture. Khairullah Khairkhah. The fifth member of the five Taliban, Mohammad Nabi Omari, was appointed governor of the eastern province of Khost last month.
Afghan outlet TOLOnews released a list of members of the new “interim” government on Tuesday, featuring several well-known faces who helped run the war-torn country between 1996 and 2001 – when the Taliban were forced to leave power by NATO forces led by US 9/11 Attacks.
Wasiq, Fazl and Khairkhah held positions in the former Taliban government: Wasiq as deputy director of intelligence, Fazl as chief of staff of the army and Khairkhah as interior minister.
According to assessments written in 2008 by the Guantanamo Bay leadership and later published by Wikileaks, Wasiq “used his office to support [Al Qaeda] and “helping Taliban personnel evade capture” and “was instrumental in the Taliban’s efforts to form alliances with other Islamic fundamentalist groups to fight alongside the Taliban against U.S. forces and the coalition” in the early days of the war in Afghanistan.
The same assessments said Fazl was supposed to have “operational partnerships with al-Qaeda and other extremist members.”
Fazl and Noori, who was governor of two northern provinces in Afghanistan during the previous Taliban regime, are also accused of ordering the massacres of Hazara, Tajik and Uzbek ethnic communities in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998.
Khairkhah, who helped found the Taliban in 1994, allegedly participated in “meetings with Iranian officials who wanted to support hostilities against U.S. forces and the coalition” after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, according to 2008 assessments. He was also the governor of the western province of Herat between 1999 and 2001 and was known as “one of the leading opium drug lords in western Afghanistan,” he said. find the US military leadership.
Despite assessments recommending “continued detention” for the five, then-President Barack Obama signed an agreement that sparked Gitmo’s men in exchange for Bergdahl’s release, which the Taliban had taken captive after leaving. an observation published in Paktika province in June 2009.
“The United States of America never leaves our men and women behind,” Obama said at a Rose Garden ceremony announcing Bergdahl’s May 31, 2014 release.
When Bergdhal returned to the United States, the five Taliban were transferred to Qatar, where much of the Taliban’s political leadership resided at the time. Among those horrified by the price paid for Bergdahl’s return were Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Who told CBS’s “Face The Nation” that the five Taliban were “the toughest in the hard core.” “the highest – risking people.”
In 2015, Bergdahl was accused by the military of deserting with the intent of evading an important or dangerous duty and a charge of misconduct before the enemy by endangering the safety of his fellow soldiers. In 2017 he pleaded guilty to both charges and was sentenced to a dishonorable termination, a reduction in rank and a fine. Bergdahl has since appealed to the federal court to try to overturn his sentence.
The new Taliban government also has acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is on the FBI’s most wanted list with a $ 5 million reward on his head and is believed to continue to hold at least one hostage. -American. He led the dreaded Haqqani network, guilty of many deadly attacks and kidnappings.
In a statement on Tuesday, Senator Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) Described Haqqani as a “bloodthirsty terrorist” and accused President Biden of having maintained “a fantastic madness that the Taliban are kinder and kinder.” .
“He is armed, dangerous and running a country we have just left,” Sasse said of Haqqani. “Americans are still trapped behind the Taliban lines, the Biden Administration still refuses to disclose how many of our people were left behind and the State Department continues to talk about how they really expect the Taliban to” fulfill their commitments. “Pathetic.”
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stressed that the appointments were temporary, but did not say how long they will serve and what would be the catalyst for a change.
With publishing cables