by Anand Gopal
“Whoever is responsible should be executed”: Ibid.
both pieces of intelligence from the rival camps: Charles H. Briscoe, Richard L. Kiper, and James A. Schroder, Weapon of Choice: U.S. Army Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan (Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press, Military Bookshop, 2003).
a mission designated as AQ-048: Ibid.
“there are no friendlies at the site”: Ibid.
Aziz Mansour was staying indoors: “Aziz Mansour” is a pseudonym.
“We never even spoke to Ghilzais in those days”: Interview with Dan Green, Washington DC, 2010.
“Two of the four aircraft commandeered by terrorists”: Alex Belida, “US Troops Uncover al-Qaida Weapons, Model of 757 Airplane,” State Department, September 23, 2002.
I asked Eckart Schiewek: Interview, 2009.
Coburn found a similar dynamic in his study of Istaliff: Noah Coburn, Bazaar Politics: Power and Pottery in an Afghan Market Town (Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011), 146.
7 • BLACK HOLES
Noor Agha could feel the shackles: Noor Agha’s story is based on interviews, Paktia, 2011; Anand Gopal, “America’s Secret Afghan Prisons,” Nation, January 28, 2010.
to end his “armed defiance of the interim administration”: “Eastern Afghan Militants Wanted Peaceful Resolution: Commander,” Agence France-Presse, March 6, 2002.
anyone caught opposing Kabul would have his house burned down: Kathy Gannon, “Guantanamo Prisoner Returns, and Is Arrested Again,” Associated Press, February 7, 2009.
a probe into a reported theft of $3,000: Interviews, Paktia, 2011; and WikiLeaks Guantanamo Files—ISN 1001.
“operational and logistical support for al Qaeda operations”: WikiLeaks Guantanamo Files—ISN 1001.
“They stripped me naked, out in the open”: Nancy A. Youssef, “Did ‘Returning’ Terrorists Become Extremists in Guantanamo?,” McClatchy Newspapers, May 26, 2009.
“We were without hope”: “Prisoners: Guantanamo: Muhammad Naim Farooq (Released),” Cage Prisoners website, http://old.cageprisoners.com/prisoners.php?id=465, accessed November 4, 2013.
Parre was forced to kneel on stones: Craig Pyes, “A Torture Killing by U.S. Forces in Afghanistan,” Crimes of War Education Project, http://www.faculty.umb.edu/gary_zabel/Courses/Morals%20and%20Law/M+L/news-tortureafghan.html, September 20, 2004; Craig Pyes and Kevin Sack, “Deaths Were a Clue That ‘Something’s Wrong,’” Los Angeles Times, September 25, 2006.
if he sided with those “opposing the Coalition”: Pyes, “A Torture Killing.”
“They didn’t allow us to sleep”: Gopal, “America’s Secret Afghan Prisons.”
“This is Guantanamo! You are in Guantanamo!”: Ibid.
accused of supporting the followers of Hekmatyar: WikiLeaks Guantanamo Files—ISN 798.
“If somebody is a leader of a tribe”: Guantanamo Administrative Review Board Round 2 Transcripts.
“why are you here?”: Guantanamo Administrative Review Board Round 1 Transcripts, http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/798-haji-sahib-rohullah-wakil/documents/2, accessed November 4, 2013.
“All I can tell you is that I fought”: Guantanamo Combatant Status Review Tribunal Transcripts.
“one of the wealthiest men in eastern Afghanistan”: U.S. Embassy Cable 06KABUL5008.
“For six years, I was ready to go to court”: Nancy Youssef, “Where’s Pentagon ‘Terrorism Suspect’? Talking to Karzai,” McClatchy Newspapers, July 7, 2009.
“key affiliate of the al Qaeda network” had been killed: Heidi Vogt and Rahim Faiez, “Saber Lal Melma, Ex-Gitmo Detainee, Killed in Afghanistan,” Associated Press, September 3, 2011.
caught up in this universe of rivalry and intrigue: Gopal, “America’s Secret Afghan Prisons.”
supporting the political organization of Ahmed Shah Massoud: WikiLeaks Guantanamo File US9AF-000949DP.
alleged to have been a member of Herakat-i-Inqilabi: WikiLeaks Guantanamo File US9AF-000007DP.
“defected to the Taliban in 1998”: WikiLeaks Guantanamo File US9AF-OOO453D.
Abdullah Khan found himself in Guantanamo: WikiLeaks Guantanamo File US9AF-00095ODP; Wikileaks Guantanamo File US9AF-000952DP; Andy Worthington, The Guantanamo Files: The Stories of 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press, 2007).
Swat Khan’s internment stemmed from an accusation: WikiLeaks Guantanamo File US9AF-000933DP.
Hajji Bismillah, the director of transportation: WikiLeaks Guantanamo File US9AF-000968D.
Abdul Rahim al-Janko, a Syrian: Details on al-Janko are drawn from Al Ginco v. Obama, 626 F. Supp. 2d 123 (D.D.C 2009) Official Traverse; Spencer S. Hsu, “Freed Guantanamo Detainee Sues U.S. Military over Alleged Torture,” Washington Post, October 6, 2010; Andy Worthington, “Judge Orders Release from Guantanamo of Al-Qaeda Torture Victim,” Huffington Post, June 24, 2009, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-worthington/judge-orders-release-from_b_219959.html, accessed November 4, 2013; Tim Golden, “Expecting U.S. Help, Sent to Guantanamo,” New York Times, October 15, 2006.
Perhaps the unluckiest of this lot is Hamidullah: WikiLeaks Guantanamo Files US9AF-001119DP.
Mohebullah, a bus driver detained in Uruzgan Province: WikiLeaks Guantanamo Files US9AF-000974D.
“I am very happy to be in the Tribunal”: Combatant Status Review Tribunal Transcripts.
10 • BACK TO WORK
all sixty-five members of the police force: Robert Kluijver, “Study of Sub-national Administrative Structures in Afghanistan, Wardak Political Context and Security Structures,” wardak.de, accessed February 2012.
Muhammad Haqqani, a former Taliban deputy minister: Sami Yousafzai, “The Taliban in Their Own Words,” Newsweek, September 25, 2009.
in return for amnesty, he would pledge loyalty: See, for example, Malcolm Garcia, “Seven Senior Taliban Officials Freed After Questioning by U.S.,” Kansas City Star, January 10, 2002.
“there was insufficient evidence to connect detainee”: WikiLeaks Guantanamo File USAF-001043DP.
the case of Mullah Ahmed Shah: Gopal, “The Battle for Kandahar.”
the simple mud house of Feda Muhammad: Ibid.
“I still get flashbacks”: James Fergusson, Taliban: The Unknown Enemy (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2011), 319. For an alternative (and confused) account, see Jason Meszaros, Interrogation of Morals: The Truth About Courage and Integrity (St. Michael, MN: J. P. Hewitt Press, 2008).
11 • THE TANGI
There was Yunis, his closest friend: The names in this paragraph are all pseudonyms.
a friendship he had made with a man named Pir Mohmand: “Pir Mohmand” is a pseudonym.
officials had logged more than five thousand security incidents: Data courtesy of Sami Kovanen, Indicium Consulting.
a few nights away from home with his friend Ismael: “Ismael” is a pseudonym.
12 • NO-MAN’S-LAND
as told by Rahim, a Taliban fighter: All descriptions and quotes from Rahim’s story are taken from an account of his interview with Ghulam Sarwar. His account also appears in “One Talib: I’m Fed Up of Jihad,” Larawbar.com, October 23, 2008. “Rahim” is a pseudonym.
“They tied our hands behind our backs”: “Purported Survivor Recounts Horror of Afghan Bus Ambush,” Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, October 22, 2008.
“Nothing you see here in this country belongs to us”: This section is adapted from Anand Gopal, “Uprooting an Afghan Village,” Progressive 73, no. 6 (June 2009): 24–27.
a man named Qadir, hailed from Garloch: See Abdul Moeed Hashimi and Najib Rahman Enqilabi, “Laghman, Sarobi Bordering Areas Bombed,” Pajhwok Afghan News, October 19, 2008; author interviews, Laghman, 2009.
“This Time Sheep Mistaken as Enemy Combatants”: Najibullah Inqilabi, “This Time Sheep Mistaken as Enemy Combatants,” Pajhwok Afghan News, December 3, 2008.
“That’s what our lives are worth to you Americans”: Author interview, Laghman, 2009
; see also Kim Barker, “Embittered Afghans Blame U.S. for Civilian Deaths,” Chicago Tribune, February 17, 2009.
13 • STEPPING OUT
In a sequence captured by a documentary filmmaker: Taliban Country, directed by Carmela Baranowska (Eight Mile Plains, Queensland: Marcom Projects, 2007), digital video.
14 • THE LEADER
Heela caught Dr. Ishan leering at her: “Dr. Ishan” is a pseudonym.
“We’ve shot an amazing number of people”: Richard A. Oppel Jr., “Tighter Rules Fail to Stem Deaths of Innocent Afghans at Checkpoints,” New York Times, March 26, 2010.
“If you ask me what I worry about at night”: Majority Staff of the House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Warlord, Inc.: Extortion and Corruption Along the U.S. Supply Chain in Afghanistan (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, June 2010).
“No one leaves without paying”: Ibid., 29.
the Australian firm Compass: WikiLeaks War Log, Kandahar Province Incident Report, “Illegal Checkpoint,” November 22, 2009.
Dozens were taken hostage and executed: Author interviews, Kabul, Kandahar, and Uruzgan, 2010.
EPILOGUE
Jan Muhammad was sitting on a couch: Interviews; also, Julius Cavendish, “Killing of Karzai’s Advisor Takes Another Hit at the President’s Circle,” Time, July 18, 2011.
Of the $557 billion that Washington spent: Amy Belasco, The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11, CRS Report RL33110 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, March 29, 2011), table 3.
As a result, the state became criminalized: This line of argument was first developed in Matthieu Aikins, Contracting the Commanders: Transition and the Political Economy of Afghanistan’s Private Security Industry (New York: Center on International Cooperation, New York University, 2012).
“Under Taliban rule, only 1.2 million students were enrolled”: Allied Command Services, “ISAF Spokesman Discusses Progress in Afghanistan,” news release, July 26, 2011, http://www.aco.nato.int/page424205131.aspx.
740 schools listed by the education ministry: Mohammad Hasan Hakimi, “Afghanistan: The Ghost Teachers of Ghor,” Institute for War and Peace Reporting, March 29, 2012.
“just because every state in the US had a hospital”: Aunohita Mojumdar, “An Inflated Claim of Health Success in Afghanistan Exposed,” Christian Science Monitor, December 5, 2010.
contract called Host Nation Trucking: Majority Staff of the House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Warlord, Inc.
60,000 to 80,000 armed private security employees: Belasco, The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations.
INDEX
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Abbas
Abbas, Mullah
Abdo Khan, Hajji
Abdullah Khan
Achekzai, Ahmed Shah
Achekzai, Heela. See Heela
Achekzais
Adaam, Mullah
Afghan Health and Development Services
Afghanistan
al Qaeda in
anti-Americanism
civil war in, see civil war
Communist leadership
constitution (2004)
first presidential elections (2004)
future of
gender segregation
geography
international aid to
mujahedeen rule
of 1950s–60s
of 1970s
-Pakistan rivalries
post-Taliban
second presidential elections (2009)
Soviet invasion
Taliban insurgency in, see Taliban insurgency
Taliban rule
tribal elders
US-backed mujahedeen
US invasion of
US war in, see Afghanistan war
Afghanistan war (2001–present)
Afghans mistaken for Taliban by US forces
air strikes
in Chak District
civilian casualties
construction projects and US patronage
false intelligence
first presidential elections (2004) and
in Garloch
Guantanamo and
Khas Uruzgan raids
in Korengal Valley
in Maiwand
NATO troops
Northern Alliance and
Obama policy
Operation Anaconda
program to eradicate poppy cultivation
resupplying of American bases
roadside bombings
Sherzai network and
suicide bombings
surge
Taliban and
Taliban insurgency and
in Tirin Kot
US failure in
US fatalities
US invasion (2001)
US torture of Afghans
US withdrawal
in Uruzgan
in Wardak
in Zurmat
Afghan National Army
Afghan National Police
Afshar
Agha, Noor
Agha, Tayeb
agriculture
harvest season
poppy cultivation
Ahmed, Noor
Ahmed Shah, Mullah
Aikins, Matthieu
air strikes
Akbar Gul
background of
in Bagram prison
civil war and
as governor of Chak District
in Pakistan
return to Kabul
in Taliban insurgency
Akhund, Hajji
Akhundzada, Abdul Ghaffar
Akhundzada, Sher Muhammad
Ali, Abdul
Ali, Ghulam
Alingar River
Alizais
al-Janko, Abdul Rahim
Almas, Hajji
al-Qaeda
in Afghanistan
Afghans mistaken for, by US forces
Amerine, Jason
anti-Americanism
Armitage, Richard
Asadullah
Ashcroft, John
Atta, Muhammad
Azmi, Hajji
Babakarkhel, Zubair
Bagram
Bala Hisar
Balkh
Baluchistan
Band-i-Timor
Barakzais
Bashar, Hajji
BBC
Behsud
bin Laden, Osama
Taliban and
US search for
Bismillah, Hajji
Blackwater
Bonn
Brosnan, Andy
Brzezinski, Zbigniew
Buddha sculptures, demolition of
Burget Khan, Hajji
Bush, George W.
invasion of Afghanistan
war on terror
Cable, Mullah. See Akbar Gul
Canadian Joint Task Force 2
Carter, Jimmy
cell phones
photography
CENTCOM
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
mujahedeen backed by
Chak District
Taliban insurgency in
US forces in
Chaman
Charles, Bobby
chemical weapons
Christianity
civil war (1992–96)
end of
jihad
mujahedeen factions
outbreak of
rape
refugees
US policy and
CNN
Coburn, Noah
Cold War
end of
Communism
Compass
constitution (
2004)
contractors
Dai Chopan
Daud, General
Daud Khan
Delta Force
Dil, Hajji Shirin
Dil Agha, Mullah
Dostum, Rashid
Doucet, Lyse
drugs
drug lords
opium
Dubai
Dutch troops
education
closing and destruction of schools
post-Taliban
school construction
underground
of women
Ehsan, Hajji
Fahim, Marshal Muhammad
Fallujah
Faryab
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Field Detention Sites
Fifth Special Forces Group
Firozi, Khalilullah
French troops
fuel transport
Gardez
Garloch
US forces in
Gayawa
Taliban attack on
Gelam Jam
gender segregation
Germany
Ghazni city
Ghazni Province
Ghilzais
US operations and
Ghor
government
civil war and
Communist
election fraud
first presidential elections (2004)
Karzai
lawless mountains
parliamentary elections
political killings
post-Taliban
second presidential elections (2009)
Taliban
women in
Great Britain
Green, Dan
Green Berets
Tirin Kot battle
Grenier, Robert
Guantanamo Bay
Afghans sent to
closure debate
Taliban in
Guevara, Che
Gulalai, Hajji
Gulf War (1991)
Hafizullah
Hamdam, Asadullah
Hamidullah
Hanifi
Haqqani, Muhammad
Haroun, Muhammad
harvest season
Hayatullah, Mullah
Hazaras
Hazrat, Malek
Heela
abduction of her son
dispute with police
dreams of
elected to provincial council
escape from Kabul
escape from Uruzgan
first presidential elections
in Kandahar
pilgrimage to Mecca
second presidential elections (2009)
as senator
Taliban and
in Tirin Kot