Abdul Rasul Sayyaf
Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, aka
Abd-i-Rab Rasoul Sayaf, is a
Pashtun warlord commander of a Pashtun militia.
Abdul was a member of
Akhwan-ul-Muslimeen (
Muslim Brotherhood), founded in 1969 by
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Dr.
Syed Burhanuddin Rabbani, based in Afghanistan with strong links to better known Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Fluent in Arabic, Ustad (Professor) Abdul's tenure at the Shariat in Kabul ended in 1973 when he plotted with Burhanuddin Rabbani,
Ahmed Shah Massoud and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to overthrow President
Daoud Khan from the Panjshir Valley.
Sayyaf fought against
Soviet occupying forces in Afghanistan during the 1980s, forming a close relationship with Osama bin Laden during jihad against Soviets. Together in the Jalalabad area they established a training camp network, later used by Al-Qaeda personnel, with bunkers and emplacements. [
1] Abdul holds a degree in religion from
Kabul University and a masters from
Al-Azhar University in
Cairo,
Egypt.
He was backed by Saudi Arabia, and is head of the
Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan, in 2001 the only Pashtun leader allied with the United Front (
Northern Alliance) in its war against the governing
Taliban prior to the fall of Kabul, thus wielding little clout as a military leader. He was able to pay men under his command with donations he received from wealthy Arab benefactors.
The
9/11 Commission Report mentions on page 146 that Sayyaf was a mentor to
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, chief manager of the "planes operation" which culminated in the quadruple hijackings of
2001. Somewhat ironically, the report also mentions on page 149 that "Sayyaf was close to
Ahmed Shah Massoud, leader of the
Afghan Northern Alliance. Therefore working with him might [have been] a problem for KSM because
bin Laden was building ties to the rival
Taliban." Abdul allegedly arranged the interview in which Ahmad Massoud was assassinated.
In Kathy Gannon's "I is for Infidel, From Holy War to Holy Terror: 18 Years in Afghanistan". Mrs. Gannon mentions the Abu Sayyaf group, a Philippine terrorist organization, "was named for him by its founder Abdurajak Janjalani. Janjalani was a student and a disciple of his who received military training from him."
In 2003 Sayyaf was elected one of 502 representatives at the Constitutional
Loya Jirga in Kabul, chairing one of the working groups. Originally wanted Loya Jirga intended to divide the 502 delegates randomly among 10 working groups, but Sayyaf objected, suggesting delegates be divided among the groups to ensure equal distribution of professional expertise, provincial origin, gender and other criteria. "Those who know the constitution, the ulema [Islamic scholars], and the lawyers should be split into different groups so that the results of the discussion and debate will be positive, and closer to each other," said Sayyaf.
Abdul Sayyaf's influence in the convention was felt further when his ally
Fazal Hadi Shinwari was appointed by
Hamid Karzai as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in violation of the constitution, as Fazal was over the age limit and trained only in religious, not secular, law. Shinwari packed the Supreme Court with sympathetic mullahs, called for Taliban-style punishments and renewed Taliban's dreaded Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, renamed the Ministry of Haj and Religious Affairs. It deployed squads to prevent public displays of "un-Islamic" behavior among Afghan women.
*[
2] -
Human Rights Watch report indicting the Ittihad forces under Sayyaf for human rights abuses.
* [
3]
