Abdul Salam Zaeef

Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef
Born	1967 Zangiabad, Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan
Occupation(s)	Militant, Taliban representative, diplomat
Years active	1983–2001 (militant and Taliban roles)
Known for	Taliban representative to Pakistan (2000–2001), Guantanamo detainee (2002–2005)

Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef (; born 1967) is a former Afghan militant and Taliban representative who served as the Afghan envoy to Pakistan under the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from 2000 until 2001.

Following the United States invasion of Afghanistan, Zaeef was captured in Pakistan toward the end of 2001 and detained at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp until 2005. In July 2010, the United Nations officially removed his name from its list of designated terrorists.

Early life

Born in 1967, Zaeef came from a modest background in the village of Zangiabad, situated between the Arghandab and Dori rivers within Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province. His family had relocated there due to land disputes in their original home in Jaldak, Zabul Province. His uncle, Mullah Nezam, was killed by government forces after being implicated in several killings. After losing his mother early on and his father in 1975, Zaeef was raised by relatives and attended a madrassa at Sangisar, where he received foundational religious instruction before the Soviet invasion. In 1978, he briefly enrolled in primary school in Kandahar city. Following the Communist regime's rise during the Saur Revolution, he fled with family members to a refugee camp in Nushki, Balochistan, Pakistan, in 1979 at age ten.

Role in the Soviet–Afghan War

At age 15, in 1983, Zaeef returned to Afghanistan to join the mujahideen resistance. He initially became part of a faction near Pashmol before affiliating with a group of taliban—Islamic students and scholars—based at Nelgham. His unit engaged in numerous fierce clashes with Afghan government and Soviet troops, suffering heavy losses. After nearly one year, he was sent to Pakistan for medical treatment for a wounded comrade and reconnected with relatives in Quetta. There, he resumed religious education and formal schooling for nine months before undergoing rocket launcher training provided by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence. In 1985, he returned to Afghanistan but was injured during an ambush while traveling toward Kandahar.

Zaeef actively participated in combat across Kandahar Province, including the 1987 Battle of Arghandab, where future Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar sustained injuries. By 1988, he had advanced to a junior commander role, leading a unit of 58 fighters during a significant assault on Kandahar Airport that inflicted heavy enemy casualties.

Taliban

Following the Soviet troop withdrawal in 1989, Zaeef worked as both a laborer and mullah within a local village. Troubled by increasing disorder in Kandahar, he relocated with his family to Pakistan in 1991. Upon returning in 1992, he served as an imam near Kandahar. In 1994, he joined former fighters opposing unruly mujahideen warlords who controlled strategic roads and urban centers. They enlisted Mohammed Omar as their leader and formed the Taliban at the White Mosque in Sangisar with an initial group of 40–50 members. Their ranks quickly expanded to about 400 supporters as they eliminated extortionist mujahideen elements from highways and secured Kandahar city.

After establishing Taliban control over Kandahar, Zaeef assisted a sharia judge and oversaw banking operations in Herat Province for two years. Following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, he worked within the Defence Ministry and briefly acted as Defence Minister during Obaidullah Akhund’s absence. Subsequently, he served as deputy minister of Mines and Industry for eighteen months before leading transportation administration. In 2000, he was appointed ambassador to Pakistan, maintaining this post throughout the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom until Pakistan withdrew recognition of the Islamic Emirate on 20 November 2001. Pakistani officials arrested him in Islamabad on 2 January 2002 and handed him over to US custody.

Repatriation

From February to July 2002, Zaeef was held at Bagram and subsequently at Kandahar before his transfer to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. He was freed on 11 September 2005 and returned to Afghanistan the following day. Zaeef attributed his release to "the efforts of some friends," while dismissing the legitimacy of his Combatant Status Review Tribunal and Administrative Review Board proceedings.

He has claimed that during his detention at Bagram, he suffered mistreatment, including being shackled in stress positions, deprived of sleep, and subjected to extreme temperature conditions.

Recent events

On 12 April 2007, Zaeef advocated for the establishment of a unity government in Afghanistan.

An interview excerpt published by The Guardian on 6 June 2008 highlighted Zaeef’s assertion that peace depends on negotiations with the Taliban and criticized the presence of foreign troops as detrimental to the authority of the central government.

A Der Spiegel report dated 12 April 2007 noted that Zaeef had taken residence in a secured guesthouse located in Kabul’s Khoshal Khan district, close to former Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil. Both individuals are regarded as moderate ex-Taliban figures. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Zaeef revealed that Afghan security forces prevented him from attending a nearby mosque for security reasons.

On 15 June 2008, the McClatchy News Service published interviews with former detainees from Guantanamo, including Zaeef. The coverage described him as the "King of the prison," who led hunger strikes and endured severe treatment while held at Kandahar.

Zaeef confirmed his participation in an informal gathering convened by Saudi King Abdullah, which included Afghan representatives from Karzai's administration, members of the Taliban, and Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin. He denied that this meeting was an authorized peace negotiation or involved substantive discussions about Afghanistan’s future. Other participants reportedly included former Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil and ex-Supreme Court Chief Justice Fazel Hadi Shinwari.

In October 2008, Zaeef declared his intention to pursue legal action against Pakistan concerning his arrest there in 2002.

According to an Al Jazeera report on 9 April 2012, Zaeef fled to the United Arab Emirates, citing multiple US attempts to raid his residence in Kabul. Although placed under protective custody by the Afghan government following his release from Guantanamo, he expressed fears for his safety after several former detainees were killed during nighttime raids. Analyst Waheed Muzhda was quoted regarding these concerns:

In 2013, Mullah Zaeef met with Robert Grenier at a conference where they discussed the invasion and perspectives of both the Taliban leadership and the United States.

Publications

Zaeef authored A Picture of Guantanamo in Pashto in 2006, documenting his experiences of mistreatment at Guantanamo Bay. In 2008, he co-edited the French volume Prisonnier à Guantanamo alongside journalist Jean-Michel Caradec'h. An English edition of his autobiography titled My Life with the Taliban was published in 2010, offering a rare insider view into the Taliban’s motivations and activities. The book was well received for its valuable insights into understanding the conflict.

See also

• Prisoner abuse
• Bagram torture and prisoner abuse

External links

• 2013 Interview with Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef
• Andy Worthington’s 2010 excerpt from "My Life with the Taliban" addressing torture and mistreatment
• English version of memoirs released by Hurst & Columbia University Press