From the cells of Guantanamo to the ruling The story of 5 officials in the Taliban government

The Taliban leadership deliberately appointed the five leaders who were released from Guantanamo Bay in 2014 to high positions in its government

The Taliban announced a caretaker government 24 days after seizing the Afghan capital, Kabul, but more than half of its members are on the United Nations sanctions list. A source in the movement told Al Jazeera Net, "Seventeen people are on the blacklist, including the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Interior."

On Friday, the Taliban demanded the United States - in a statement - to remove the names of the leaders of the movement's officials from the black list, because they contradict the Doha agreement. The Taliban still view the agreement as valid and must be respected.

After the movement’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, announced the names of the members of the government headed by Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund; Many remembered the image of 5 military leaders who were taken handcuffed on a military plane to Guantanamo Bay, where they spent 14 years of their lives without trial, and were released during the prisoner exchange deal between the United States and the Taliban.

Who are these five who negotiated their jailers in Doha in 2019, and after the Taliban took control of the Afghan capital, Kabul, they took high positions in the government of Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund? In this report, we will learn the story of those detainees who are now ministers.

Mullah Muhammad Fadhil Mazloum was born on October 24, 1967 in the southern Afghan state of Uruzgan. He was educated in Pakistani schools, and served as Deputy Minister of Defense, Chief of Staff and Military Commander in the first Taliban government.

After the events of September 11, 2001, Mullah Fadel surrendered in November 2001 to General Abdul Rashid Dostum in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, who handed him over to the American forces, and two months after his arrest in Afghanistan, he arrived on January 11, 2002 to a prison Guantanamo, and his detention serial number was 7.

Mazloum was held in Guantanamo until May 31, 2014, when he was released during the prisoner exchange deal between the United States and the Taliban, and he was deported to Doha and remained there for 3 years, then the Taliban appointed him as a member of its political office in Doha, and later joined the delegation of negotiations with Washington. After the movement's control of the capital, Kabul, he was appointed as an undersecretary of the Afghan Ministry of Defense.

Mullah Noorullah Nouri - Acting Minister of Borders and Tribes

Noorullah Nouri was born in 1967 in the Shagwe district of Zabul province in southern Afghanistan, and took the position of governor of the provinces of Laghman and Balkh in the first Taliban government, then the leader of the movement at the time, Mullah Muhammad Omar appointed him a military official for the northern states after the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, and was arrested by forces loyal to General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who handed him over to the US forces in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province.

Mullah Nouri arrived at Guantanamo on January 11, 2002, and was held for 13 years. After his exit, the Taliban appointed him as a member of its political bureau, then a negotiator with the United States, and after the Taliban took control of the country 24 days ago, they appointed him as acting minister of borders and tribes.

Abdul Haq Watheeq - Acting Chief of Intelligence

Mullah Abdul Haq Watheq was born in 1971 in Khogyani District in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. He studied in the Pakistani city of Quetta, and served as Deputy Intelligence in the first Taliban government.

After the fall of the movement's government, he went to Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan to meet with the movement's leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, but agents of the foreign forces got to know him and he was arrested in 2001 in Ghazni province.

Watheeq arrived at Guantanamo on January 11, 2002, and was held there until May 31, 2014; He was transferred from Guantanamo Bay to Qatar on June 1, 2014, along with 4 others, known as the "Taliban Five", in a prisoner exchange deal. He was currently appointed as the acting intelligence chief after the Taliban took control of the country.

Mullah Khairallah Khairkhwah, Acting Minister of Information

Mullah Khairallah Khairkhwa was born in 1967 in Kandahar Province, southern Afghanistan. He studied forensic sciences in Pakistan along with Taliban leaders. He held many positions in the movement, including the police command in Kabul, and finally the governor of Herat Province in western Afghanistan. He took over the Ministry of the Interior of the Taliban government in 1998.

He was arrested by the US intelligence with the help of its Pakistani counterpart inside Pakistan, then he was transferred to the city of Quetta, and then to the Guantanamo prison on May 1, 2002, where he spent 12 years.

After his release in an exchange deal with the United States, he chose to live in the State of Qatar, then joined the Taliban political office, then became a member of the Afghan negotiating team, and Prime Minister Mullah Muhammad Hassan appointed him as acting minister of information in the current government.

Muhammad Nabi Omari - Acting Governor of Khost Province

Muhammad Nabi Omari, born in 1968 in the state of Khost, and belongs to the Ismail Khel tribe, was arrested by US forces in Khost in 2001, and transferred to Guantanamo Bay on October 28, 2002, on the pretext that he worked with the Taliban movement as a military official and commander of the military division near the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Omari worked as a police chief in Khost province in the government of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, then joined the Taliban movement, and they assigned him to lead the movement's militants in Khost province.

In June 2014, he was transferred from Guantanamo Bay to Qatar with 4 others, known as the "Taliban Five", in a prisoner exchange deal in exchange for the American soldier Bergdahl, mediated by Qatar.

Nabi Omari participated in the talks with the Afghan government, and after the Taliban movement took control of Afghanistan, he returned from Qatar to his hometown, and the movement appointed him as acting governor of Khost Province in appreciation of his efforts in the movement.

Why were former detainees chosen to be responsible?

The selection of the five officials in the new government from among the former Guantanamo detainees sparked widespread controversy inside and outside Afghanistan.

On this, university professor Assad Wahidi says to Al-Jazeera Net that the Taliban appointed former detainees as government ministers "for several reasons, the most important of which is that they were close to the movement's founder, Mullah Muhammad Omar. Second, because they made great sacrifices for the movement, and they endured American prisons for nearly 14 years, and finally Because they are respected and appreciated by the Taliban militants, and they are seen as a way to keep ranks within the movement, and it is a message to the fighters that the movement does not abandon its followers."

Many Afghans believe that the presence of government figures from the Taliban on the blacklist of the United Nations and the UN Security Council affects the future of the Taliban's relationship with the international community, and that Afghanistan desperately needs this relationship. The writer and political researcher, Muhammad Ismail, told AJ NEWS, "The Taliban movement should appreciate and reward its members in another way, and choose new faces that are trusted by the international community, and not be on the American blacklist, because this will limit their movement and travel to build relations with the international community."

Who is the American soldier Bergdahl?

The release of the five Taliban prisoners in the 2014 exchange deal was in exchange for the movement's release of the American soldier Bergdahl. Who is this soldier?

Bergdahl was born on March 28, 1985 in the United States and came to Afghanistan on a military mission after September 11, 2001 with the coalition forces, and his mission was in the southeastern province of Paktia.

The American soldier, Bergdahl, left his base in Paktia province, and upon his return he was arrested by gunmen affiliated with Mullah Senkin, a member of the "Haqqani Network" in 2009. Bergdahl is the only American soldier captured in Afghanistan since Washington launched its war in that country 20 years ago. He was released after being held captive for 5 years in Afghanistan in exchange for the release of five of its senior leaders detained in Guantanamo Bay.