Qari Ziaur Rahman is a citizen of Afghanistan who is reported to be a leader of the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

's and al-Qaeda's leadership. He was believed to have been killed in March 2011 during an attack on militants by the Pakistani military, however Ziaur Rahman later phoned media reporters to confirm that he survived the airstrike.

Early life

Qari's father, Ahengar Dilbar, was a blacksmith. Qari Ziaur Rahman reports being from Konar Province. He reports that he memorized the entire

Koran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , si ...

while a youth. According to a profile in 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 ...

'', he grew up surrounded by Arab foreign fighters 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 ...

. According to the ''Asia Times'' he is in his thirties.

Militant career

''Asia Times'' reports that Qari Ziaur Rahman is a leader in the insurgency's efforts in Konar, and that the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

has offered $350,000 bounty for information leading to his death or capture. As is often the case, Taliban exaggerate claims of monetary rewards, proposing inflated figures as propaganda to build credibility among insurgency personnel. Qari Ziaur Rahman was captured in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

by operatives of

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

& ISI. But he was not transferred to US custody. Instead he was part of a prisoner exchange for Pakistani military officials.

Bill Roggio Bill Roggio is an American commentator on military affairs, and the managing editor of ''The Long War Journal''. Prior to leading a team of online commentators, Roggio published the online weblog ''The Fourth Rail''. Roggio was an active duty ...

, writing in the ''

Long War Journal ''FDD's Long War Journal'' (LWJ) is an American news website, also described as a blog, which reports on the War on terror. The site is operated by Public Multimedia Incorporated (PMI), a non-profit media organization established in 2007. PMI i ...

'', reported that he was rumored to have been killed in mid-June 2009. Two weeks later Roggio reported the Pakistan had offered a series of bounties. He reported they offered the equivalent of US$615,000 for

Baitullah Mehsud Baitullah Mehsud ( Pashto/ ur, ; – 5 August 2009) was one of founder and a leading member of TTP in Waziristan, Pakistan, and the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). He formed the TTP from an alliance of about five militant gr ...

. He reported that for Qari Zaur Rahman they only offered the equivalent of $65,100. Afghan forces reported that Rahman was killed in a coalition drone strike on 21 August 2013. He was reported attending a meeting with three other local insurgents, who were killed, in the

Marawara district Marawara District (; ) is one of the 15 districts in Kunar Province, Afghanistan. It borders Sirkanay District to the west, Asadabad District to the north-west, Dangam District to the north-east and the Durand Line to the south. Marawara's po ...

of Kunar. Reports of Rahman's death were proven false when he was interviewed by

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

in May 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rahman, Qari Ziaur Taliban leaders Pashtun people Living people Afghan al-Qaeda members Afghan expatriates in Pakistan Year of birth missing (living people)