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Al Qaeda Leader Captured by US, Leads Fight Against America in Afghanistan
Posted By Daniel Greenfield On September 13, 2014 @ 3:07 pm In The Point | 3 Comments
Thank goodness we didn’t waterboard him or shoot him in the head on capture. Or drone him. That would have been wrong.
A senior leader of the Taliban and al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) who was captured by Coalition forces in the spring of 2011 is now leading more than 300 jihadists in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz. The IMU leader once served as the top commander of the jihadist group’s network in Afghanistan.
Qari Bilal, the IMU leader, was freed by the Afghan government at the direction of President Hamid Karzai, Afghan officials in Kunduz have told TOLONews, which identified Bilal as “a senior al-Qaeda leader who was released from prison on two separate occasions.” He leads more than 300 fighters in Kunduz province and “has masterminded numerous suicide attacks and overseen the planting of roadside bombs throughout the province. ”
It is unclear when Bilal was released from Afghan custody. Given that he was captured by ISAF, he was very likely held at the Parwan Detention Facility. The US transferred control of the Parwan Detention Facility to Afghanistan in March 2013. Shortly afterward, the Afghan government began releasing Taliban commanders and fighters from prison. Thousands of detainees are said to have been freed from Parwan.
Given that Obama’s plan for ISIS is going to rely on “partnerships” with Muslim countries, it would be a good idea to remember how those partnerships have already worked out in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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