Zabiullah Mujahid is one of the self proclaimed spokesmen for the Taliban who is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. He has acted as a media conduit between the isolationist rebel forces and Western media teams.[1] He was interviewed with his back towards the TV camera in early 2009 by CNN reporter Nic Robertson, appearing to be somewhere in Afghanistan.[2] To a question relating to ending the war in Afghanistan and bringing peace, Mujahid indicated it was possible but with conditions:
"Our conditions are clear, we want to negotiate and they [the U.S.] will not interfere in our affairs, secondly they [the U.S.] will leave the country, third let the Afghan people to do what they want to do, like form the Islamic government they want to establish."—Zabihullah Mujahid
Shortly after the CNN interview was broadcast, with highlights shared on the CNN web page on May 5, 2009, some jihadi web sites carried denials, some attributed to Mujahid himself, saying the person Robertson interviewed was not Mujahid. [3] [4]
Zabihullah Mujahid is described to be about 30 years old, with a beard, and is little over 6 feet (1.8 m) tall.[2] Although his association with Taliban leader Mullah Omar is not confirmed, it is suggested that Mujahid may be representing the Haqqani network or Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the Hezb-e-Islami political party of Afghanistan.[5] The dialect of Pashto language spoken by the man CNN claims was Mujahid during the interview with Robertson is similar to that of Hezb-e Islami, which belongs to the area covering Kunar, Laghman, Nangarhar, and Paktia.
Zabihullah Mujahid may possibly be a number of individuals who assume the persona of the "Taliban Spokesman" when contacting western and middle eastern reporters. His claims of Taliban victories and US and coalition failings are often cited uncritically by several reporters who have developed a close working relationship with "Zabihullah". For example, after an attack on Bagram Air Base in May 2010, CNN reporter Atia Abawi revealed on the air that she received phone calls directly from Zabihullah claiming credit for this and earlier attacks as being "spot on." And that information was confirmed by military officials at both Bagram Airfield and ISAF Headquarters in Kabul.[6]
On July 1, 2010, when the "Afghan War Diary" was published, Assange held back 15,000 of the 93,000 reports. Those released included the names of perhaps 300 Afghans who had assisted Western forces. Mujahid claimed that a nine-member commission had been created after the documents were released “to find out about people who were spying”[7]