American prisoners who were previously Taliban prisoners

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The United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba contains a dozen or more American prisoners who were also Taliban prisoners.

For decades Afghanistan has been one of the most prolific areas for the cultivation of black market opium. And a number of the Taliban's foreign prisoners were suspected drug smugglers. Others had said or done something which triggered Taliban suspicions.

According to the Associated Press Commander Jeffrey Gordon, a Department of Defense spokesman defended the men's continued detention^[1]:

“Multiple reviews and designations have been conducted since each unlawful enemy combatant was captured, to include during initial detention overseas to lengthy procedures at Guantanamo,”

84	Ilkham Turdbyavich Batayev	Used as a kitchen slave by the Taliban.[2]
308	Adil Uqla Hassan Al Nusayri	A Saudi police officer, who visited Afghanistan shortly before 9-11, was thrown into prison by the Taliban, only to be sold, for a bounty, by the Taliban to the Americans.[3]
489	Abd Al Rahim Abdul Rassak Janko	Imprisoned by the Taliban when he was denounced by Arkan Mohammad Ghafil Al Karim, after Al Karim's capture and interrogation.[4]
490	Jamal Udeen Al-Harith	Paid a driver to take him from Pakistan to Iran, without realizing that his driver would take near the Afghanistan border, where the Taliban seized him as an American spy, based on his British passport.[5] Went directly from custody in a Taliban jail to US custody.
491	Siddeeq Ahmad Siddeeq Noor Turkistani	Turkistani was imprisoned by the Taliban for four and a half years, because he was alleged to have been involved in a plot to kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Turkistani admits being opposed to the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, but he denies that he was involved in any plots.[6]
492	Airat Vakhitov	Fled Russia for Tajikistan, in 1999, to avoid harassment by the Russian authorities; was forced by members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, to travel to Afghanistan; when he was thrown into prison because the Taliban suspected he was a Russian spy.[7]
493	Abdul Hakim Bukhary	According to the BBC Bukhary had been jailed by the Taliban for expressing approval of Ahmad Shah Massoud, a Northern Alliance leader assassinated on September 9, 2001.[8][9]
562	Qari Hasan Ulla Peerzai
653	Arkan Mohammad Ghafil Al Karim	Imprisoned by the Taliban on February 15, 2000 on suspicion that he was an American spy.[4]
664	Rashid Awad Rashid Al Uwaydah	Imprisoned by the Taliban for smuggling drugs.[10]
848	Amin Ullah	Reports that he was imprisoned twice by the Taliban, when he resisted being press-ganged.[11]
1002	Abdul Matin	Lived for twenty years as a refugee in Pakistan, he was arrested, and spent six months in Taliban detention, when he inherited a large parcel of real estate, and returned to Afghanistan to arrange for rent payments from his tenants.[12][13]
1119	Hamidullah	Was imprisoned by the Taliban for two years, just after they took power. He wasn't released, he escaped.[14]

[edit] References

1. ^ Paul Haven. "From Taliban jail to Gitmo – hard-luck prisoners tell of unending ordeal", San Diego Union Tribune, June 30, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-01. 
2. ^ Distant Justice: How a Portland lawyer is trying to help one Guantánamo detainee return to his life as a fruit trader, Willamette Week, August 9, 2006
3. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Adil Uqla Hassan Al Nusayri's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 112-124
4. ^ ^{a b} Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Arkan Mohammad Ghafil Al Karim's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 1-15
5. ^ The most hapless tourist in the world: It's no holiday when the Taliban deem you a spy and the US labels you a terrorist, The Age, March 13, 2004
6. ^ Detainee Cleared for Release Is in Limbo at Guantanamo, Washington Post, December 14, 2005
7. ^ "Thumbnails of the 9 men at Guantanamo Bay who were once Taliban prisoners", International Herald Tribune, June 30, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-7-2. 
8. ^ Guantanamo Bay: The testimony, BBC, March 4, 2006
9. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Hakim Bukhary'sCombatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 56-65
10. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Rashid Awad Rashid Al Uwaydah's Administrative Review Board hearing - pages 46-60
11. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Amin Ullah's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 12-16
12. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Matin's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 23-50
13. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Abdul Matin's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 192-202 - August 2005
14. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Hamidullah'sCombatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 89-101