Taliban conscription

Last updated

Conscription was employed in Afghanistan during Taliban administration between 1996 and 2001.

Contents

Ante September 11, 2001 Taliban conscription

Kidnapping foreigners

Prior to the collapse of their regime the Taliban made widespread use of conscription, and according to some of the Guantanamo captives, kidnapping and virtual slavery.[ citation needed ]

Conscription of children

According to a report from Oxford University the Taliban made widespread use of the conscription of children in 1997, 1998 and 1999. [1]

Post September 11, Pre-collapse Taliban conscription

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation quoted a young Afghan, who reported: "They're rounding men up for a fight to the last man." [2]

According to the ABC report Ahmed Zia said there had been a large-scale exodus from Kabul. He claimed the Taliban were rounding up young boys for battle. He also claimed the Taliban were forcing people to give blood.

The British paper The Daily Telegraph reported, on September 29, 2001, that the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Omar, had closed all Afghanistan's religious schools, so the students could fight beside the Taliban. [3]

The Los Angeles Times , reported, on October 13, 2001, an account of a young man who had an encounter with Taliban members pressing men into service for them: [4]

Samim, the young man who fled with his family, is an ethnic Tajik. He said he had a lucky escape Thursday night, walking home from the bazaar with his friend, Farid Alsoo. They stumbled across a Taliban patrol roughly shoving young men into a minivan. About five or 10 young men were already captive. The Taliban men seized Alsoo and pushed him into the van. They tried to get me, but I ran,' Samim said. 'They chased me for a few meters, but I got away,' he said, speaking in English. As the family breadwinner, he couldn't afford to be arrested or pressed to fight.

Post-collapse Taliban conscription

Accounts of the Taliban's conscription policies from Guantanamo detainees

On March 3, 2006, after exhausting all it legal appeals, the US Department of Defense was forced to comply with a court order and release information about the identity of the captives held in extrajudicial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. The DoD released thousands of pages of documents prepared for, or arising from, the captives' Combatant Status Review Tribunals and Administrative Review Board hearings.[ citation needed ]

Those thousands of pages of documents revealed that many of the detainees described themselves as conscripts, sometimes enlisted at gunpoint, and imprisoned in their barracks under armed guards, kept on hand for the Taliban to use as "cannon fodder".[ citation needed ]

"Enemy combatant" status

Some skeptical commentators have discounted the accounts of Guantanamo detainees whose stories suggested they weren't hardened terrorists. However, there are captives who even the American intelligence analysts acknowledged were reluctant conscripts.

Under questioning by US District Court Judge Joyce Hens Green, US Government lawyer Brian Boyle confirmed that the definition of "enemy combatant" status was so broad that even an elderly person from Switzerland, who sent money to what she thought was a legitimate charity, could be classified as an "enemy combatant" if workers for that charity clandestinely diverted some of its resources to back projects with ties to terrorism. [5]

Some of the Guantanamo detainees had their classification as "enemy combatants" confirmed because they had a business arrangement to supply al Qaeda, or the Taliban, with mundane items, like firewood; some claimed they were enlisted at gunpoint, and housed in their barracks under armed guard; some claimed they were kidnapped, and employed as kitchen helpers, or servants, as virtual slaves; and some said that they were conscripted, not for military duties, but simply to perform civilian duties the Taliban couldn't fill through normal hiring practices. [6] [7]

Related Research Articles

Salah Abdul Rasool Al Blooshi is a Bahraini, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.

Muhibullah or Moheb Ullah Borekzai is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 546. American intelligence analysts estimate that Muhibullah was born in 1982, in Shah Wali Koot, Afghanistan.

Abdullah Mujahid is a citizen of Afghanistan who is still held in extrajudicial detention after being transferred from United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba — to an Afghan prison. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 1100.

Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost is an Afghan Salafi jihadist militant who served primarily with the Taliban, and later, as a founding member of ISIS–K. Dost's militancy began by age 19, when he left Afghanistan to join the Ikhwan, carrying out the Grand Mosque seizure in Mecca, Saudi Arabia before most of the group were captured and executed, though Dost escaped to Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. By 1986, he had returned to Afghanistan to fight in the Soviet–Afghan War as a member of Jamaat al-Dawah ila al-Quran wal-Sunnah, a Salafist forerunner to the Taliban. Following the Soviet withdrawal, he joined the Taliban as they ascended to power in the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Said Salih Said Nashir</span> Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee (born 1969)

Said Salih Said Nashir is a citizen of Yemen, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His Internment Serial Number is 841.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Awal Gul</span> Afghan Guantanamo detainee (1962–2011)

Awal Gul was a citizen of Afghanistan who died in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps in Cuba after nine years of imprisonment without charge.

Sami Abdul Aziz Salim Allaithy Alkinani is an Egyptian professor who was held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 287. Analysts reported that he was born on October 28, 1956, in Shubrakass Egypt. He was repatriated to Egypt on September 30, 2005. He was later classified by the United States Department of Defense as a no longer enemy combatant.

Hammdidullah, a.k.a.Janat Gul, is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba. American counter-terror analysts estimate he was born in 1973, in Sarpolad, Afghanistan.

Abdul Baseer Nazim is a citizen of Afghanistan who is still held in extrajudicial detention after being transferred from United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba — to an Afghan prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Rauf Aliza</span> Taliban/ISIS fighter (1981–2014)

Mullah Abdul Rauf Aliza, widely identified as Mullah Abdul Rauf Khadim, was an Afghan militant who served as a senior leader in both the Taliban and ISIS-K.

Ali Abdul Motalib Awayd Hassan Al Tayeea is a citizen of Iraq who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 111. The Department of Defense reports that Al Tayeea was born in Baghdad, Iraq. The Department of Defense provided a birthday, or an estimated year of birth, for all but 22 of the 759 detainees. Al Tayeea is one of those 22. He was repatriated on January 17, 2009, after more than seven years without ever been charged.

Faris Muslim al Ansari is a citizen of Afghanistan who was seventeen years old when captured and held in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 253. American intelligence analysts estimate that Al Ansari was born in 1984 in Mukala, Yemen.

Jawad Jabber Sadkhan is a citizen of Iraq who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. Sadkhan's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 433.

Abib Sarajuddin is a citizen of Afghanistan, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 458. Guantanamo intelligence analysts estimate that he was born in 1942.

Hajji Sahib Rohullah Wakil is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 798. American intelligence analysts estimate he was born in 1962, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. He has since been transferred from Guantanamo Bay to the American wing of the Pol-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul, Afghanistan. On November 18, 2019, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated him for supporting activities of the ISIS branch in Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sabar Lal Melma</span> Afghan Guantanamo detainee

Sabar Lal Melma was a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. Sabar Lal Melma's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 801. American intelligence analysts estimate that Sabar Lal Melma was born in 1962, at Darya-e-Pech, Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad Nabi Omari</span> Afghan politician and former Guantanamo Bay detainee

Mawlawi Mohammad Nabi Omari is an Afghan politician serving as First Deputy Minister for Interior Affairs under the internationally unrecognized Taliban regime since 6 October 2022. He was also appointed Acting Governor of Khost Province in late August 2021. Omari was held for nearly twelve years in extrajudicial detention at the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 832. American intelligence analysts estimate that he was born in 1968, in Khost, Afghanistan. He arrived at the Guantanamo detention camps on October 28, 2002.

Bostan Karim(also transliterated as Bostan Qaseem) is a citizen of Afghanistan, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. Karim's Guantanamo detainee ID number was 975. Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate he was born in 1970, in Khost, Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haji Ghalib</span> Afghan Guantanamo Bay detainee

Haji Ghalib is a citizen of Afghanistan who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 987. Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate he was born in 1963, in Nangarhar, Afghanistan. Ghalib was repatriated on February 28, 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noorullah Noori</span> Afghan Borders and Tribal Affairs Minister since 2021

Mullah Noorullah Noori is a militant and Minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since 7 September 2021. He was also the Taliban's Governor of Balkh Province during their first rule (1996–2001). Noori spent more than 12 years in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. Noori was released from the detention camp on May 31, 2014, in a prisoner exchange that involved Bowe Bergdahl and the Taliban Five, and flown to Qatar.

References

  1. ↑ Jo Boyden, Jo de Berry, Thomas Feeny, Jason Hart (January 2002). "Children Affected by Armed Conflict in South Asia: A review of trends and issues identified through secondary research" (PDF). University of Oxford Refugee Studies Centre . Retrieved 2021-08-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ Afghani men dodge Taliban conscription, Australian Broadcasting Corporation , September 26, 2001
  3. ↑ Pakistanis fail to win handover of bin Laden, The Daily Telegraph , September 29, 2001
  4. ↑ Refugees flee Taliban conscription, Los Angeles Times , October 13, 2001
  5. ↑ Clive Stafford Smith (April 21, 2007). "Have you received your gift pack?". The Guardian . Retrieved 2007-04-22.
  6. ↑ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Nasrullah's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 40
  7. ↑ Summarized transcripts (.pdf) Archived 2006-07-31 at the Wayback Machine , from Shabir Ahmed's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 80-90
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.