...currently awaiting a press release from the ACLU...
Taliban Fighter Who Was Freed From Guantánamo Prison Is Killed
NY Times | September 27, 2004 | AMY WALDMAN
KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 26 - A senior Taliban commander who had been released from the American detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, was killed Saturday in Uruzgan Province, Afghan officials reported Sunday.
The commander, Maulavi Ghaffar, had spent eight months in the Guantánamo prison, said the Interior Minister, Ali Jalali. He had been captured after fighting for the Taliban in northern Afghanistan, Mr. Jalali said.
After his release over a year ago he was appointed the Taliban's regional commander in Uruzgan and Helmand Provinces, said Jan Mohammad Khan, the governor of Uruzgan Province. The governor said Mr. Ghaffar had carried out attacks against American Special Forces soldiers and an attack on a district chief in Helmand in which three Afghan soldiers were killed.
The governor said officials had learned Friday that Mr. Ghaffar planned to attack the police in Chachani district, and instead the Afghan forces killed him and two of his men.
Officials in Afghanistan and the United States have indicated in the past that at least five Afghan detainees released from Guantánamo had returned to Afghanistan and again become Taliban commanders or fighters.
Another commander, Mullah Usman, was arrested, Mr. Jalali said. Mr. Khan, the provincial governor, said Mullah Usman had been a district chief under the Taliban and had been responsible for the killings of 16 people in Uruzgan who had voter registration cards.
He also said Interior Ministry officials had found one ton of explosives in a section of Kabul on Sunday, and that suspects were being questioned in that case.
Taliban Fighter Who Was Freed From Guantánamo Prison Is Killed
NY Times | September 27, 2004 | AMY WALDMAN
KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 26 - A senior Taliban commander who had been released from the American detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, was killed Saturday in Uruzgan Province, Afghan officials reported Sunday.
The commander, Maulavi Ghaffar, had spent eight months in the Guantánamo prison, said the Interior Minister, Ali Jalali. He had been captured after fighting for the Taliban in northern Afghanistan, Mr. Jalali said.
After his release over a year ago he was appointed the Taliban's regional commander in Uruzgan and Helmand Provinces, said Jan Mohammad Khan, the governor of Uruzgan Province. The governor said Mr. Ghaffar had carried out attacks against American Special Forces soldiers and an attack on a district chief in Helmand in which three Afghan soldiers were killed.
The governor said officials had learned Friday that Mr. Ghaffar planned to attack the police in Chachani district, and instead the Afghan forces killed him and two of his men.
Officials in Afghanistan and the United States have indicated in the past that at least five Afghan detainees released from Guantánamo had returned to Afghanistan and again become Taliban commanders or fighters.
Another commander, Mullah Usman, was arrested, Mr. Jalali said. Mr. Khan, the provincial governor, said Mullah Usman had been a district chief under the Taliban and had been responsible for the killings of 16 people in Uruzgan who had voter registration cards.
He also said Interior Ministry officials had found one ton of explosives in a section of Kabul on Sunday, and that suspects were being questioned in that case.