The Shamshato refugee camp is a large refugee camp 25 kilometers southeast of

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

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 ...

. Peshawar lies just east of Pakistan's

Federally Administered Tribal Areas , conventional_long_name = Federally Administered Tribal Areas , nation = Pakistan , subdivision = Autonomous territory , image_flag = Flag of FATA.svg , image_coat = File:Coat of arms ...

, which line Pakistan's border with

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. American

intelligence analysts Intelligence analysis is the application of individual and collective cognitive methods to weigh data and test hypotheses within a secret socio-cultural context. The descriptions are drawn from what may only be available in the form of deliberate ...

asserted during

Guantanamo captive The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...

Sharifullah's

Combatant Status Review Tribunal The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were estab ...

and his annual

Administrative Review Board The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the detainees held by the United States in Camp Delta in the United States Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The purpose of the Board is to re ...

hearings that his stay in the refugee camp established an "

enemy combatant Enemy combatant is a person who, either lawfully or unlawfully, engages in hostilities for the other side in an armed conflict. Usually enemy combatants are members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. In the case ...

" because they believed recruiters from the

Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin The Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin ( fa, حزب اسلامی گلبدین; abbreviated HIG), also referred to as Hezb-e-Islami or Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA), is an Afghan political party and former militia, originally founded in 1976 as Hezb-e-Isl ...

militia had tried to recruit fighters within the camp. Sharifullah testified that he had been unaware of any militant presence during his stay in the camp. During his 2005 and 2006 reviews Guantanamo captive Awal Gul faced two allegations concerned with the camp: One; that "the detainee stayed at the Shamshateau refugee camp in Pakistan where he worked closely with his commander." and two: that "The Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) headquarters and operations center was located in Shamshato, near Peshawar, Pakistan." These allegations were not present during his 2004

, and were dropped from his third annual review in 2007. According to the American

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...

think-tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental ...

The Jamestown Foundation The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based conservative defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission today is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, wh ...

'', the camp is surrounded by a two-meter tall mud-brick wall, and its 2,000 occupants are all loyal to Hekmatyar. The Pakistani newspaper ''Dawn'' also reports that the camp is a center of support for Hekmatyar. Shahabuddin Hekmatyar, the younger brother of

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ( ps, ګلب الدين حكمتيار; born 1 August 1949) is an Afghan politician, former mujahideen leader and drug trafficker. He is the founder and current leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin political party, so calle ...

, the leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin was arrested outside the camp on August 17, 2008.

References

Populated places in Peshawar District Refugee camps in Pakistan Afghan refugee camps Afghan diaspora in Pakistan {{Peshawar-stub