Sayed Rahmatullah Hashmi is a former envoy of the Taliban government in Afghanistan. 'Sayed' is an honorific title that indicates lineage with the family of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Also known simply as Rahmatullah, he was once enrolled as a non-degree student at Yale University. In July 2006 it was announced that his application to pursue a bachelor's degree had been rejected by Yale College via the Eli Whitney Students Program.
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Rahmatullah was born in Kohak, Afghanistan, to Pashtun parents. In 1982, his family moved to Pakistan. Rahmatullah grew up in a refugee camp in Pakistan and was educated in madrassas and the Pakistani school system.[1] His schooling was fragmented, but he did emerge proficient in English as well as Pashto, Persian, and Urdu.[2] In the fall of 1993, he took a high-school equivalency exam in Quetta, Pakistan and was awarded a degree.
In 1994, the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, and the 16-year old Rahmatullah joined them in Kandahar, Afghanistan as a computer operator and later, thanks to his language skills, as translator. He was appointed to the position of diplomat in the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan in 1998. In this capacity he traveled around the world as a spokesperson for the Afghan foreign Ministry.
In 1997, Rahmatullah was present when CNN's Peter Arnett interviewed Osama Bin Laden. Speaking of the interview at the University of Southern California, during March 2001, Rahmatullah said
In early 2001 he made a trip to the US. He met with US State Department officials, senators, and the media. At one point he encountered an anti-Taliban protester, a woman who tore off her burqa; he said to her "I'm really sorry for your husband. He might have a very difficult time with you." Footage of the incident was later incorporated into the Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.[5]
During this 2001 tour he denied knowing anything about Osama Bin Laden until after the 20 August 1998 cruise missile attacks ordered by U.S. President Bill Clinton
Later in the same interview, he aggressively defended Osama Bin Laden, referring to him as a "good guy" for the Afghans and insisting that the Taliban government would not hand him over to the United States.
Hashmi would later claim that he was getting disillusioned with some Taliban policies by this point. Nevertheless, in an interview to the Yale Daily News, he supported most Taliban policies especially on security, integrity of the nation, and their ban on opium cultivation.
On 30 August 2001 as a translator to the Taliban foreign minister, Rehmatullah Hashmi reviewed charges of preaching Christianity against foreign aid workers.[7] He spoke against Shelter Now International for preaching Christianity and demonstrated the evidence supporting Taliban charges of prosyletizing Christianity that had been gathered against the jailed American, European and Afghan missionary aid workers.[8] Afghan aid workers could have faced the death penalty for conversion to Christianity and foreign aid workers face a variable jail sentence depending on the severity of the proselytizing. However, before the Taliban government fell in October 2001, all the missionaries were released unharmed. Later speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, the missionaries told news men that they were treated well during their two month long incarceration.[9]
After the 11 September 2001 attacks, Rahmatullah's family lived in Pakistan. During the US invasion of Afghanistan, Rahmatullah worked for CNN's Nic Robertson as a translator and a personal assistant. After the war he lived in Quetta, Pakistan, for most of the next three years, reading astronomy books, and completing his unfinished high school education.
In 2004, an American friend, Mike Hoover—a CBS cameraman who had sponsored his 2001 trip—suggested applying to college in the US. In 2005, Rahmatullah was admitted to Yale as a nondegree student. On 26 February 2006, The New York Times Magazine published a profile of Rahmatullah, making his status as a Yale student widely known.[10]
In 2006, conservative sentiment arose opposing Rahmatullah studying at Yale University and questioning outright his presence in the United States. On 8 March 2006, Yale alumnus Clinton Taylor launched a campaign intended to discourage alumni donations until Rahmatullah's presence at the school is better explained by the administration. The initiative has been called "NailYale".[11][12]
On 23 March 2006, writing in OpinionJournal.com, John Fund reported that Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) had sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, requesting an explanation regarding the circumstances surrounding Ramatullah's visa application and the subsequent visa extension.[13]
As of April 2006, Yale has published the following comment on its website:
A recent non-scientific poll conducted by the Yale Herald—a student-run weekly newspaper—which was answered by 2,000 undergrads, concluded that 50% of Yale supported Hashmi's acceptance and about 25% opposed it.
Critics such as 1999 Yale alumnus David Bookstaber, who contributes to the NailYale blog, acknowledge that "reactions run the spectrum" from outrage to support. One student leader of Yale's Hillel, a Jewish group, defended him, saying "Applying to Yale in the first place and while here, participating in Yale's 'Jews and Muslims' dialogue group, Hashmi seems to want to expand his mind. Hashmi, by learning here, has already changed his approach to the world." An unnamed professor pointed out that members of the new Afghan government are former Taliban and that prior to 1998 Hamid Karzai was associated with the Taliban. Zachariah Victor, doctoral candidate in music and member of Yale's Graduate and Professional Student Senate [1], blasted conservative critics as "outsiders" who attack universities because they do not have "reason, science or history on their side" in matters of policy (these are Victor's own views; the Graduate and Professional Student Senate has no public stance on the admission of Hashmi to Yale College).[15]
In July 2006, Rahmatullah was denied admission to the Eli Whitney Students Program, Yale's degree-granting program for non-traditional students.[2]