Mullah
Mullah (; ) is an honorific title for Shia and Sunni Muslim clergy or a Muslim mosque leader. The term is also sometimes used for a person who has higher education in Islamic theology and sharia law.
The title has also been used in some Miz ...
Abdul Salaam Alizai is a former member of the
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
movement who defected to the
Afghan
Afghan may refer to:
*Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia
*Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity
** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...
government in December 2007. He is a leader of the Alizai, a
Pashtun
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
tribe.
In the 1980s, Mullah Abdul Salaam took part in the resistance against the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
Orūzgān Province
Uruzgan (Dari), also spelled as Urozgan or Oruzgan, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. Uruzgan is located in the center of the country. The population is 436,079, and the province is mostly a tribal society. Tarinkot serves as th ...
, and later district governor of
Kajaki
Kajaki is a village in southern Afghanistan, and is split between two townsteads, Kajaki 'Olya, and Kajaki Sofla. It is the district centre of Kajaki District in Helmand Province. North east of the village is an important hydro power station fo ...
. He was said to be on good terms with Taliban leader
Mullah Omar
Mullah Muhammad Omar (; –April 2013) was an Afghan Islamic revolutionary who founded the Taliban and served as the supreme leader of Afghanistan from Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001), 1996 to 2001.
Born into a religious family of ...
.
After the demise of the Taliban regime in 2001, Mullah Abdul Salaam returned to a civilian life but was later imprisoned by the governor of Helmand province
Sher Mohammed Akhundzada
Sher Mohammed Akhundzada (also known as Sher Ahmed Akhundzada) is a tribal leader who was the Governor of Helmand in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2005.
Early life
Sher Mohammed was born to the Akhundzada family in northern Helmand province, which ...
for eight months. The two men both belong to the Alizai tribe, but are from rival sub-tribes. Eventually, they reconciled and Mullah Salaam served as head of Sher Mohammed's security detail, but the enmity between sub-tribes has not abated. Mullah Salaam later returned to his home town of Musa Qala to become a member of the local tribal council.
In mid-June 2006, as part of the Helmand province campaign, ISAF troops were deployed to Musa Qala, where they came under heavy attack by Taliban elements. In October 2006, both forces agreed to withdraw from the town, but in February 2007, the Taliban returned and seized control of Musa Qala. Mullah Salaam claimed that when the Taliban convened a
Shura
Shura ( ar, شُورَىٰ, translit=shūrā, lit=consultation) can for example take the form of a council or a referendum. The Quran encourages Muslims to decide their affairs in consultation with each other.
Shura is mentioned as a praisewort ...
(council) to attack the ISAF, he refused to participate. However, during the Taliban takeover of February 2007, he is said to have led his tribal force in support of the Taliban. Later, he began negotiations with an Irish diplomat working for the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
who persuaded him to join the government. In the autumn of 2007, Mullah Salaam travelled to
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
where he met President
Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...
and persuaded him that he could provoke a tribal uprising against the Taliban. Upon his return, he was soon arrested by the Taliban and taken for further prosecutions to the court where he fought with his barehands and used their weapons against them while on his way to the court. He was supported by a tribal uprising against the Taliban where coalition and Afghan commanders then planned
Operation Mar Kardad
The Battle of Musa Qala (also Qaleh or Qal'eh) was a British-led military action in Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, launched by the Afghan National Army and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) against the Taliban on 7 De ...
to recapture Musa Qala from the Taliban. The offensive began on December 7, 2007. However, once coalition troops had driven away the Taliban, he was appointed governor of
Musa Qala District
Musa Qala is a district in the north of Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Having rallied to the government, he became a target for the Taliban. In January 2008, a suicide bomber injured several of his bodyguards.
After June 2008, his relations with the British appear to have significantly degraded. He accused British soldiers of undermining his authority by releasing people he had imprisoned and refusing to fund his "war chest", which he claims is for buying the support of Taliban commanders. In response, the British have accused him of concerning himself only with his own profit, and neglecting the reconstruction of Musa Qala. They have also charged that he has been taxing the illegal
opium poppy
''Papaver somniferum'', commonly known as the opium poppy or breadseed poppy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. It is the species of plant from which both opium and poppy seeds are derived and is also a valuable ornamen ...
crop, while his militia is said to have engaged in thievery and extortion. Mullah Salaam has denied the charges.
On January 1, 2009, Taliban militants attacked his house in the village of Shah Kariz, killing 20 of his bodyguards, but Salaam was absent at the time, and escaped injury.