Zabiullah Mujahid

Zabiullah Mujahid (Pashto: ذبیح الله مجاهد‎; Ẕabīḥullāh Mujāhid) is one of the Taliban spokesmen who is believed to be in Sindh,[1][2][3] Pakistan,[4] working as a media conduit between the isolationist rebel forces and the Western media.[5] Afghan officials claim that he is really Hajji Ismail, a 42-year-old man from the Pakistani town of Chaman in Balochistan, Pakistan.[4]

Task

The Americans say that there are a number of different men all pretending to be Zabiullah Mujahid. An intelligence analyst said that "there's no way Zabiullah Mujahid could be one person... No one person could take that many calls from the media." An American official stated that "There's no question these guys are not in Afghanistan... Most of them never have been. The last time they were in Afghanistan was probably six years ago."[4]

He was interviewed with his back towards the TV camera in early 2009 by CNN reporter Nic Robertson inside a room.[6] 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. [7][8]

CNN described that Zabihullah Mujahid as a 30 years old, with a beard, and is little over 6 feet (1.8 m) tall.[6] Although his association with Taliban leader Mullah Omar is not confirmed, the NEFA Foundation has suggested that Mujahid may be representing the Haqqani network or the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin party.[9]

Zabihullah Mujahid may possibly be a number of individuals who assume the persona of the "Taliban Spokesman" when contacting the media. 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.[10] He has been noted to communicate with journalists via text message.[11]

On July 1, 2010, when the "Afghan War Diary" was published by Wikileaks, 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."[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Taliban spokesman accidentally tweets his location – US military plans to visit". Metro (British newspaper). October 4, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Afghan Taliban spokesman after errant tweet: 'I am in my own country'". Newsday. October 4, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Errant tweet claims Taliban’s spokesman in Pakistan". The Times of India. October 4, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Norland, Rod (June 14, 2011). "One Voice or Many for the Taliban, but Pegged to a Single Name". New York Times. Retrieved December 7, 2012.
  5. ↑ CNN, Afghanistan disputes report that Taliban killed 2 hostages, July 21, 2007.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Afghan Taliban spokesman: We will win the war, May 5, 2009.
  7. ↑ CNN propaganda exposed, Theunjustmedia News & Perspectives, May 15, 2009, screen capture PDF.
  8. ↑ CNN's fake interview with Taliban's official spokesman Zabihulla Mujahid is exposed, Jamia Hafsa forum, May 16, 2009.
  9. ↑ Exclusive Interview with Taliban Spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, January 25, 2008.
  10. ↑ Atia Abawi's report about attack on Bagram
  11. ↑ http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-motorcycle-bomber-kills-14-including-3-nato-085148091.html
  12. ↑ Manne, Robert. "The Cypherpunk Revolutionary". The Monthly.

External links