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 Salam Rocketi (born 1958) is a former

mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...

freedom fighter A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objectives ...

" and

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 ...

military commander who renounced his allegiance to run for the

Parliament of Afghanistan The Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also translated as the Supreme Council, () (also referred to as the Inner Shura) is the central governing body of the Taliban and Afghanistan. The Taliban uses a consensus decision-maki ...

in 2005, and for the

Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...

in 2009.Former Taliban leaders renounce past to stand in Afghan elections
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', September 15, 2005 The ''

Asia Times ''Asia Times'' (), formerly known as ''Asia Times Online'', is a Hong Kong-based English language news media publishing group, covering politics, economics, business, and culture from an Asian perspective. ''Asia Times'' publishes in English and ...

'' described him as one of the former Taliban who "... act as the Taliban's political wing in Kabul." Rocketi is an ethnic

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 ...

from

Zabul Province Zabul (Pashto/Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the south of the country. It has a population of 249,000. Zabul became an independent province from neighbouring Kandahar in 1963. Historically, it was part of the Zabu ...

in Afghanistan. Son of Haji Manzar, he had almost completed his religious studies before he joined the mujahedeen (freedom fighter) war against the foreign invaders.

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

Rocketi was born in Naw Bahar District,

. During the

Soviet occupation of Afghanistan The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

in the 1980s, Rocketi earned his surname (Rocketi - راکیټی) fighting with

rocket-propelled grenade A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is a shoulder-fired missile weapon that launches rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. Most RPGs can be carried by an individual soldier, and are frequently used as anti-tank weapons. These warheads are a ...

s against Soviet helicopters and tanks, and he was soon elected as the main commander in the south zone of Afghanistan in the war against Russian invaders, he was titled Rocketi by his acting commander at that time Amir Mussa kalim the acting commander of Mujahedeen.

Afghan Civil War

In 1995, he was requested to join the Taliban by the leader of Taliban

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 ...

then he fought against cruel Mujahedeen who started the inhuman act all our the country. After a long war he was appointed as governor and military head of

Maidan Wardak Province Maidan Wardak (Pashto: ; Dari: ), also called Wardag or Wardak, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the central region of Afghanistan. It is divided into eight districts and has a population of approximately 500,00 The capital ...

, He was also the main commander who took Kabul from Mujahedeen. A member of the

Abdul Rasul Sayyaf Abdulrab Rasul Sayyaf ( ; ps, عبدالرسول سیاف; born 1946) is an exiled Afghan politician and former mujahideen commander. He took part in the war against the Marxist–Leninist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) govern ...

Islamic Dawah Organisation of Afghanistan The Islamic Dawah Organization of Afghanistan ( ps, د اسلامي دعوت تنظيم افغانستان, fa, تنظیم دعوت اسلامی افغانستان, ''Tanzim-e Dahwat-e Islami-ye Afghanistan'') is a political party in Afghanistan ...

, his residence was raided by Pakistani militias who uncovered a cache of

Stinger missile The FIM-92 Stinger is an American man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) that operates as an infrared homing surface-to-air missile (SAM). It can be adapted to fire from a wide variety of ground vehicles, and from helicopters as the Air-t ...

s, and arrested his brother. Rocketi retaliated, fought against these militias in many battles and won many battles against them. After some time in a battle he lost his brother in a battle against Pakistani and these Pakistani kidnapped his brother body and not welling to give it back after a while Rocketi kidnapped the deputy commissioner of

Ziarat Ziarat (Urdu and ps, ) is a city in the Ziarat District situated in the Balochistan. It is from the capital city of Eastern Balochistan Quetta. It was established as a district on 1st July 1986, before then it was part of Sibi district. Th ...

, Atta Mohammad, and several Pakistani militiamen.Khyber.org
Mullah Abdul Salam Rocketi
In retaliation, he took 10 Pakistani hostages, including the deputy commissioner of

and 2 Chinese engineers. He demanded that his brother to be freed from Pakistani prison and return his martyred brother Dawtany and return of his Stinger missiles,

U.S. invasion of Afghanistan

By the time of the 2001

U.S. invasion of Afghanistan In late 2001, the United States and its close allies invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban government. The invasion's aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda, which had executed the September 11 attacks, and to deny it a safe base of operation ...

, Rocketi was serving as the top commander in Kunar, Nangarhar and Laghman provinces.Dimanno, Rosie.

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

Taliban turncoat's got a new mission
August 13, 2009 In the opening days of the bombardment, it was suggested that his residence may have been a target of three bombs dropped in mid-October. However, by December 2001, he was reported to have surrendered

Zabul Zabul (Pashto/Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the south of the country. It has a population of 249,000. Zabul became an independent province from neighbouring Kandahar in 1963. Historically, it was part of the Zabu ...

to the American forces. The following month, it was reported that he may have been killed in the attack that also killed Taliban Interior Minister

Qari Ahmadullah Qari Ahmadullah ( ps, قاری احمدالله) (born 1975) was an Afghan politician and the Taliban's first interior minister in 1996. He was responsible for bribing anti-Taliban commanders to desert the ranks of the United Islamic Front fo ...

. In May 2002, after renouncing the insurgency, Rocketi was arrested by American officials during a meeting in Kandahar.Keath, Lee.

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

US Captures ex-Taliban commander
May 14, 2002

Relationship with militant leaders

According to the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'' Rocketi, commenting on a recent Taliban offensive in 2006, said: In the summer of 2007 Rocketi and

Abdul Salam Zaeef Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef (; born 1967) is an Afghan diplomat who was the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan before the US invasion of Afghanistan. He was detained in Pakistan in the fall of 2001 and held until 2005 in the Guantanamo Bay detainment c ...

, the Taliban's former Ambassador to Pakistan, were reported to have entered into negotiation with the more moderate factions within the Taliban. According to the ''

'':

2009 Presidential bid

Rocketi was a candidate in the

2009 Afghan Presidential election Presidential elections were held in Afghanistan on 20 August 2009. The election resulted in victory for incumbent Hamid Karzai, who won 49.67% of the vote, while his main rival Abdullah Abdullah finished second with 30.59% of the vote. The e ...

but subsequently endorsed 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 ...

. In July the same year, he survived a Taliban ambush during a campaign rally in

Baghlan Province Baghlan (Dari: ''Baġlān'') is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. It is in the north of the country. As of 2020, the province has a population of about 1,014,634. Its capital is Puli Khumri, but its name comes from the other majo ...

. Preliminary results placed him 7th in a field of 38.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rocketi, Abdul Salam Taliban leaders Living people Pashtun people People from Zabul Province Afghan expatriates in Pakistan 1958 births