My Life with the Taliban

381 Pages·2010·3.03 MB·English

by  Abdul Salam Zaeef

MY LIFE WITH THE TALIBAN

ABDUL SALAM ZAEEF
My Life with
the Taliban
Edited by
Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
Copyright © Abdul Salam Zaeef 2010
Editors’ introduction and translation Copyright
© Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn, 2010
Foreword Copyright © Barnett R. Rubin, 2010
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Za’if, ‘Abd al-Salam, 1967 or 8–
My life with the Taliban / Abdul Salam Zaeef.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-70148-8 (alk. paper)
1. Za’if, ‘Abd al-Salam, 1967 or 8– 2. Taliban—Biography. 3. Afghan War,
2001—Biography. 4. Prisoners of war—Afghanistan—Biography.
5. Prisoners of war—United States—Biography. 6. Guantánamo Bay
Detention Camp—Biography. I. Title.
DS371.33.Z34A3 2010
958.104'7—dc22
[B]
2009040865
∞
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable
acid-free paper. This book is printed on paper with recycled content.
Printed in USA
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs
that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
CONTENTS
Kandahar: Portrait of a City ix
Editors’ Acknowledgements xxv
Editors’ Notes xxvii
Character List xxix
Foreword by Barnett R. Rubin xxxvii
Preface by Abdul Salam Zaeef xli
Maps xlviii–xlix
1. Death at Home 1
2. The Camps 13
3. The Jihad 21
4. Lessons from the ISI 31
5. Bitter Pictures 39
6. Withdrawal 47
7. Taking Action 57
8. The Beginning 67
9. Administrative Rule 81
10. Mines and Industries 91
11. A Monumental Task 101
12. Diplomatic Principles 107
13. Growing Tensions 123
14. The Osama Issue 131
15. 9/11 and its Aftermath 141
16. A Hard Realisation 157
17. Prisoner 306 171
18. Guantánamo Bay 187
19. Graveyard of the Living 199
v
CONTENTS
20. Getting Out 211
21. No War to Win 219
Epilogue: Afghanistan Today 229
Notes 245
Bibliography 285
Chronology 288
Glossary 297
Suggestions for Further Reading 309
About the Author and Editors 313
Index 315
vi
This “freedom” put a proud people in chains
And turned free men into slaves
“Independence” made us weak
And slaughtered us
In the name of kindness
This is democracy by the whip
And the fear of chains
With a whirlwind at its core
Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef
(written in Guantánamo*)
* Special thanks and credit to Jean MacKenzie and Abaceen Nasimi for working on this
poem.

KANDAHAR
PORTRAIT OF A CITY
Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn
You could tell it was a big bomb from the numbers of corpse-laden
pickup trucks that passed us on our way to the river. There were so
many bodies that in death they were shown disrespect, tossed into the
back of cars and trucks for the journey back to town.
As we approached the scene we could see a gathering crowd of
police cars and onlookers. Policemen and local villagers stood among
what remained: overturned thermos flasks of green tea; vendors’ plas-
tic baskets with nuts, biscuits and matches; a bright green, red and
orange woven mat—all stained with bright red blood.
Young police officers mill around, manifesting a faint attempt at
standing guard, as if they could somehow bring him back; three 4 ´ 4
cars, the fronts gnarled as if chewed by some subterranean monster;
and everywhere the shoes that people had taken off before stepping
onto the mats.
In front of the cars, the mat is ripped and mixed with a twisted mess
of skull-caps, woollen blankets, shreds of clothes, half of someone’s
brain, a trail of intestines. In the midst of all this lay a pair of primi-
tive, rusted metal crutches. Trampled oranges, mixed with splatters of
blood—now starting to darken as they soaked into the ground.
These were the meagre traces of the people who stood here before
the explosion, watching, laughing, talking. Witnesses at the hospital
told of scores of severed feet being collected together, all detached from
their bodies and a surprisingly common injury on that day.
It was 17 February 2008 in Kandahar, a clear-blue day with thin
wisps of clouds in the sky. Abdul Hakim Jan, a well-known local mili-
ix
KANDAHAR: PORTRAIT OF A CITY
tary commander and tribal strongman, was dead. The suicide-bomber
also took the lives of at least a hundred1 others with him in Afghani-
stan’s deadliest attack ever. Abdul Hakim Jan had driven to the banks
of the almost-dry river to watch a dog fight. The commander was well-
known for his unique style and appearance: he only ever wore blue,
and used to wear three pairs of the Afghan traditional clothes, one on
top of the other. His death was traumatic for his Alikozai tribe—al-
ready decapitated by the loss of Kandahar’s pre-eminent mujahedeen
commander, Mullah Naqib—and an irreversible loss for the city.
As milestones go, this was an important one. Abdul Hakim Jan was
one of the last of his generation of mujahedeen commanders still alive,
and the only remaining guarantor of security in his native Arghandab
district. It showed just how bad things had become in the south.
***
Two years later, Kandahar is even more dangerous. The average Kan-
dahari faces daily NATO bombings throughout the region, occasional
suicide attacks within the city, pervasive and unabashed corruption,
rising food and fuel prices, and an increasingly brutal campaign of
assassinations.
Kandahar never had what could be described as a bustling night-
life, but now the streets are deserted after dark. Even eighteen months
ago there were many more people out and about in the evenings.
Almost every week residents in the centre of the town are woken in the
middle of the night by the crackle of a heavy machine gun or the boom
of a rocket detonating, a sign that government installations are under
attack.
Corruption is the norm in the Afghan government, and accompanies
the majority of interactions between Kandaharis and officials at all
levels. Bribes are needed for even the simplest operations, such as pay-
ing bills. Contractors frequently wage wars over foreign donor money,
while tribal and personal disagreements are on the rise.
Drug-related corruption is endemic, particularly during the poppy
harvest, or when the authorities make their half-hearted attempts at
eradication. This links into the government security apparatus, which
is often seamlessly attached to the drug traffickers and traders who
seek to limit the power of the Afghan state. Particularly in southern
Afghanistan, these links are common knowledge and are the cause of
confusion and disappointment among the local population.
x