Terrorist Attack _______________ Information Only : Top Taliban body count, December 15, 2001

» Steven_Russell - Top Taliban body count, December 15, 2001

This is an update of an approximation of the body-count summary of the top enemy operatives and leaders, which is being tracked daily by US War Planners. Their information on the number and status of individuals of top interest is drawn from various sources of Intelligence and news media reports.

as of December 15, 2001
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FBI Top Wanted terrorists: .. 22 on list - 1 KIA, 1 prisoner, 2 wounded/in peril, 18 at large
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Other Top al Qaeda: ........... 53 on list - 3 KIA, 36 prisoners, 3 wounded/in peril, 14 at large
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Top Taliban/rogues ............. 47 on list - 12 KIA, 2 prisoners, 15 defector/surrender, 18 at large
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Taliban Top Leadership and Rogues

This list consists of other important dangerous or wanted individuals in Afghanistan, who are either current or ex-members of the Taliban leadership, or who held important Tribal leadership or governmental positions while under the Taliban rule. Many of the lesser "defectors" and "surrenders" simply switched sides over to the winners, while others were bribed, or lost battles, or just gave up and went home. The remaining "at large" individuals are ones who should be held, interrogated, prosecuted and imprisoned - but, they are all missing, in hiding, or have refused to fully surrender or cease hostilities. Also on the list are some rogue tribal commanders, who are responsible for ongoing atrocities and violence, and who continue to operate independent of the influence of US allies or of any national Afghan government.

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1 Mullah Mohammed Omar --------------- fled Kandahar to Baghran, December 12, 2001
Supreme spiritual and top commanding leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan. A half-educated, one-eyed warrior megalomaniac with almost no knowledge of the wider world. His home town is in Tarin Kowt, in central Uruzgan province, north of Kandahar. But during the war in 2001, he was based at a large compound in Kandahar. In October, US Special Forces briefly invaded the compound. When opposition forces and media finally entered and controlled the compound after December 7, they found that Omar had been living very luxuriously there, relative to sparse conditions that existed in the outside surrounding city.

2 Hafiz Majid ------------------ resisting at Sperwan, December 12, 2001
Taliban former righthand man of Mullah Mohammad Omar, was resisting surrender at Sperwan, 22 miles from Kandahar. Majid also still controls al Qaeda forces barricaded at Kandahar's Chinese Hospital on December 15, 2001.

3 Mullah Abdul Razaq ------------------------------------ at large around Kandahar, December 14, 2001
Taliban interior minister; Taliban Defence Minister as of December 14 2001
On December 14, 2001, he claimed the Taliban would soon occupy the whole Afghanistan within one month. "We will soon carry out our operations and the whole world will see it," Mullah Abdul Razaq told the BBC Pashto service. He said that armed Taliban are around Kandahar and they are waiting for the Americans. He claimed that Mullah Omar had informed him about the escape of Osama Bin Laden from Afghanistan before December 1.

4 Obaidullah Akhund -------------------------------------Taliban defense minister, his home in Kabul turned up multiple al Qaeda terror documents
Taliban Defense Minister. On early Saturday, November 10, 2001 Taliban Defense Minister Obaidullah Akhund told Reuters from Kabul that the Taliban militia had lost the strategic northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif to the opposition Northern Alliance, heralding in an incredibly rapid advance by opposition forces that coming weekend. ``Yes, Mazar has gone,'' he said in a brief interview. ``The city and its airport are with the opposition. Our forces are in Tangi Tashgurghan,'' he said, referring to a town some 60 km (40 miles) to the east of Mazar-i-Sharif. On November 16, 2001 Apparent Qaeda presence found in a Taliban defense ministry building in Kabul suggest that Osama bin Laden's organization was closely linked to the radical Islamic government. It was not clear who might have visited the houses, in the Karte Parwan area of Kabul, the former diplomatic district, since the capture of the city by the Northern Alliance or where exactly all the documents came from. The former defense ministry building is guarded by alliance soldiers, but the private house is not. Some of the documents along with 19 highly advanced French- made Milan antitank missiles discovered on Thursday November 15 were in a house that belonged to the ministry of defense of the Taliban government. Other documents were found in a private residence two miles away in the same upscale district of Kabul. A flight-simulator computer program, a list of flight schools in the United States and documents describing chemical, biological and nuclear warfare and referring to the Qaeda organization were found in the two Kabul houses littered with paper. Throughout both houses were scattered green and yellow forms in Arabic labeled "Al Qaeda Ammunition Warehouse." The forms list weapons, including rifles and grenades, and state to whom they were issued. The apparent Qaeda presence in a Taliban defense ministry building suggested that Osama bin Laden's organization and the radical Islamic government were closely linked. In one house, a page torn out of Flying magazine was found, listing flight schools in Florida, including Walkawitz Aviation in Titusville and Phoenix East Aviation in Daytona Beach. [Greg Nardi, the manager of Walkawitz Aviation, said that several Arab students had approached the school in the last year and that the F.B.I. had visited the school on more than five occasions since the Sept. 11 attacks, taking away the records of a number of these Arabs.] The contents of the houses including hundreds of pieces of paper scattered on the floors appeared to provide evidence of the activities of Al Qaeda in Kabul and the extent of its network, the nature of its planning and its training methods. The houses were adorned with maps, including one listing the location of power plants in Europe, Africa and Asia. Another map showed Saudi Arabia with American military bases marked with the words in Arabic, "Occupied by the Crusader." There were also ashes and other evidence in both houses that documents had been burned. The papers include addresses of individuals living in Canada and Italy, letters listing the names of young recruits hoping to join Mr. bin Laden's Qaeda network, and lists of people who lived in the houses. It is not known whether false names were used on the documents. One of the visiting cards was from U-Enterprises Ltd., a Vancouver- based company that was founded in April 1998. One of its directors is Essam Hafez Marzouk, who was arrested in Egypt two years ago and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for links to the militant Islamic group Al Jihad. The contents of the two houses suggest an organization that used the Internet to research rudimentary bomb-making and chemical weapons development and to track news coverage of Mr. bin Laden. An empty manila envelope was labeled "Khost," a reference to the network's training camp in southern Afghanistan that the United States has repeatedly bombed. Other papers appeared to be copies of a letter Mr. bin Laden sent to Mullah Muhammad Omar, leader of the Taliban, asking not to be turned over to the Americans and a reply from Mullah Omar granting his request. Both men cited religious teachings to justify their position. Notebooks from young recruits describe daily lessons in military tactics, bomb-making and basic chemistry. About 20 people worked in each of the houses, neighbors said. Documents in English described "explosives and demolition techniques" and how to blow up power lines. Others, in Arabic, showed how to put a bomb in a suitcase and pass lie detector tests. One student wrote across a piece of paper with notes in Arabic on it, "Kevlar is available in Lahore," a reference to the substance used to make bullet-proof vests. Other notebooks had ledgers listing how much money the house had spent on supplies or descriptions of where Al Qaeda forces were deployed "north of Kabul." The neighbors described the men who occupied the houses as Arabs who kept to themselves and followed regular routines. The documents suggest a broad network, including Somalis, Algerians, Bosnians, Uzbeks, Sudanese and natives of the Dagastan region of Russia. The one individual clearly identified in the documents in the houses is a Canadian citizen. A July 1996 letter from the Canadian immigration service to an Amro Abouelmaati in Toronto informs him that his Canadian citizenship certificate is enclosed. Near the letter was a patient card from Toronto General Hospital in Mr. Abouelmaati's name. It was not clear whether Mr. Abouelmaati was a member of the group or whether his identity was stolen, a tactic Al Qaeda members have used in the past. Several business cards from Canada were also found that listed companies in Toronto and Vancouver, including U-Enterprises Ltd. The private house held several aviation-related documents. Amid the paper was a form that comes with a "Microsoft Flight Simulator 98" computer program. The program, a game that simulates the experience of flying a commercial jet, is often used by pilots. The form listed the identification number the owner needed to install the program. In an adjacent room, a tattered page from an undated Flying magazine listed the flight training schools in the United States. One resident of the house apparently had dreams of designing a new high-technology fighter jet. Pakistan, he hoped, could produce the plane for itself and the Taliban regime. Several dozen scraps of paper filled with a man's drawings and doodlings about the jet, called the Aladdin Ghoul, were scattered across the floor in one room. Draft letters to Pakistani officials extolling the plane's virtues filled small sheets. A document in Arabic entitled, "Before and After Precautions For Using Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Warfare," was found on the floor of the private house. The page contained the preface to the book by Abul Khabad, a man who identified himself as being from Greece and a "protector of mujahedeen." In the preface, Mr. Khabad dedicated his book, with love, to Mr. bin Laden. There were at least 10 letters from associates of Al Qaeda recommending young men for bin Laden camps. An Oct. 7, 1996, letter in Arabic, the language used in most of the documents, is on the stationery of the "mujahedeen of Uzbekistan." Addressed to "Abul Atta" at the "Aghanistan base," it begins: "At first, I hope that you are all right, and I hope that Allah protects you. Second, I thank you for approving of my brothers." The note lists the candidates, including one from Uzbekistan and four from Dagastan. It is signed by the "deputy administrator of mujahedeen in Uzbekistan," with no name. The letter's stamps show that it passed through Peshawar, Pakistan, before being delivered to Al Qaeda. The private house, a spacious, two- story structure with large windows, had been stripped of all its furniture. It appeared to have functioned as a base and training center. The other house was more formal, with the Taliban seal painted on its exterior wall facing the street and a ministry of defense seal greeting visitors as they entered the courtyard. Hand-painted seals, murals and slogans lined the walls. Near the door, a seal showed two crossed Kalishnikov rifles below a Koran and the words, "Jihad is our way." A world map showed all Islamic countries, except for Turkey, an American ally, painted in dark green. A map of Saudi Arabia showed it surrounded by small American, French and British flags, representing foreign bases and ships. Above the painted map were the words, "Occupation of the Holy Lands of Islam by the Crusaders." Upstairs, a room labeled "special office," had been mostly emptied, but numerous papers remained in desk drawers. Most of them were notebooks from students. One gave a detailed description of various ways to make nitroglycerin, dynamite and fertilizer bombs. A note next to one of the explosive formulas said "the type used in Oklahoma." The only clear indication of one resident's identity was a notebook written in Serbo-Croatian and a Bosnian passport and other papers. But the passport was in one name, and a government health card was in another. The photo had also been removed from the passport. Two ammunition rooms in the basement had been emptied. Only a dusty copy of an August 1998 article about Mr. bin Laden in a Turkish newspaper remained. Behind a dingy courtyard was a second building with five more apartments for students. That basement was filled with ammunition. Eleven of the French Milan rockets sat in crates. A heavy mortar leaned against the wall. Helmets were spread across the floor. The advanced French antitank rockets, still in wooden cases, appeared new. It was not clear how Al Qaeda had obtained them and why they were not used in the Taliban's recent losing effort against the Northern Alliance, the forces that now control Kabul. On the floor above the weapons, all but one of the five bedrooms was empty. Clothes, an electrical heater and a tea pot lined the one room that had signs of life. Along with piles of adults' clothes, there was a pair of children's shoes. Outside, neighbors explained that the men attending the school did not live alone. As they learned their craft, they lived with their families.

5 Mohammed Khaksar ------------------------------- defected at Kabul, November 12, 2001
Taliban's deputy interior minister, a bearish man with searching eyes, a long beard streaked with white and a weather-worn face making him look older than his 41 years, born in 1960. Once a close friend of the Taliban's supreme leader, Mohammad Omar, Khaksar played an important role in the Taliban from the beginning. An ethnic Pashtun like most members of the Taliban, he was one of the early key figures in the movement, which emerged in 1994 and swept to power in Kabul in 1996. He served first as intelligence chief of the movement and later as deputy interior minister, supervising security in the capital, where brutal tactics were often used to enforce restrictions on women and modern life. While Omar remained in his home base in Kandahar, much of the rest of the government operated out of Kabul, and Khaksar had a place at the table through many of its most controversial decisions. Over the years, however, he became disenchanted, particularly by the arrival of bin Laden and his foreign fighters. He complained off the record to reporters as early as 1999 and kept up a regular secret dialogue with the top military commander on the other side, Ahmed Shah Massoud, who was assassinated in September, allegedly by bin Laden operatives. Khaksar abandoned the Taliban when they fled Kabul November 12, becoming the highest-ranking defector from the Taliban inner circle. Khaksar has provided enough intelligence to the Northern Alliance to win him continued freedom despite his prominent position in the Taliban. While the alliance has vowed imprisonment or death for other senior Taliban leaders, Khaksar remains in his own home, able to travel at will, still guarded by some of the same soldiers who surrounded him while he was a Taliban official. He denied any complicity in "actions against humanity." Spared from retribution by his onetime enemies, Khaksar probably has more to worry about from his former friends. He would be an obvious target for any Taliban operatives or sympathizers still hiding out in the city, but he brushes off concern, placing his trust in his well-armed guards and even declining an offer to relocate him to a safer location in Golbahar, about 50 miles to the north.

6 Qari Ahmadullah ------------------ resisting at Kandahar, or at Ghazni, before December 12, 2001
Taliban intelligence and security chief. He is either in Northern Alliance custody or negotiating to surrender to rebel forces in Kandahar, as of December 12, 2001. Taliban sources claim he has gone home to Ghazni. He would be a potential gold mine if captured.

7 Juma Namangani ------------------------------- KIA at Kunduz, abt. November 18 2001
Lately in Afghanistan, he was a recent senior Taliban commander, one of bin Laden's senior advisers, and responsible for the Taliban's northern front in Afghanistan, as the top commander of an al-Qaeda ally, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. He was defending Mazar-i-Sharif, before it fell to the Northern Alliance, and was killed at Kunduz. Born in 1964 as Jumaboy Khojiyev, an agriculture student from Namangan, a conservative town deep in the Ferghana Valley, he fought for the Soviet Union in Afghanistan from 1987 to 1989. But on his return, he encountered the extremist Islamic beliefs slipping across Ferghana's jigsaw borders, sliced up among Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Armed with cash and Korans, Muslim missionaries from Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi sect revived the old Silk Road, and inspired students such as Jumaboy Khojiyev, who soon took the name Namangani from his hometown. Uzbek President Islam Karimov was humbled by Mr. Namangani at an election rally in 1991, and was nearly assassinated by him two years ago. But once confirmed in power in 1992, Mr. Karimov forced Mr. Namangani to flee Uzbekistan, whereupon he joined the tribal and religious war in neighboring Tajikistan. Later, Mr. Namangani crossed into Afghanistan and built contacts in Iran and Pakistan as he crafted the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), an opposition group guaranteed to scare Mr. Karimov, a former Communist Party boss. He then became a bin Laden lieutenant who fought to establish Taliban-style rule in Uzbekistan. Uzbek police believe Mr. Namangani's IMU was behind the February 1999 car bombings in Tashkent that killed at least 16 persons near several government locations. Over the past three years, IMU fighters, estimated from a few hundred to several thousand in number, have made repeated incursions from Afghanistan. In November 2001 he was involved in the unsuccessful defense of Mazar-e-Sharif, having been promoted to senior Taliban commander in recent months. On November 10, 2001 US aircraft had been bombing Taliban positions around Taloqan for the past week. Along the way was the city of Kunduz, under the control of the Taliban's terrorist ally, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which aimed to topple the Central Asian regimes. Namangani was killed likely sometime in the week following that attack. Mr. Namangani never gave an interview, and now it seems he never will, but the shadowy figure, dead at 37, became infamous across Central Asia.

8 Gulgarai ------------------------------------------------ KIA at Mazar-i-Sharif, November 7, 2001, treacherous Taliban commander. Had defected to the Taliban in 1997
Gulgarai was one of the local Pashtun commanders who defected to the Taleban in 1997, allowing them briefly to capture Mazar-i-Sharif. He had a bad reputation for human rights abuses and would probably have fought to the last, if necessary, because defection to the Alliance was not an option. Reports of Gulgarai's death came after the Alliance said on Tuesday November 6 that it had won control of three other districts, south of Sholgera, as a week of see-saw battles continued. On November 7, 2001, the US bombing during the Northern Alliance capture of Sholgera (or Shol Gar) district killed the treacherous key Taliban commander, Gulgarai, near the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. Northern Alliance commanders were jubilant about what they say is the death of the commander, Gulgarai, and about 48 Pakistani militants. Earlier, Northern Alliance forces said they were advancing towards Mazar-e-Sharif after heavy US bombing helped weaken Taleban defences. They said their troops had entered the district of Sholgera, about 60 km (36 miles) south-west of the city.

9 Mullah Abbas Akhund
Health Minister. On November 13, 2001, Kabul houses used by Taliban leaders in the once posh neighborhood of Wazir Akbar Khan were abandoned. The large steel doors of home of former Health Minister Mullah Abbas Akhund were wide open, after the Taliban fled the city the night before.

10 Amir Khan Mutaqqi
Taliban information and culture minister

11 Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Usmani
He was appointed the deputy of Mullah Omar at Kandahar, November 20, 2001. Mullah Akhtar Usmani, the Taliban military commander of five southern provinces, had been named as the successor to Mullah Omar if he died.

12 Abdul Kabir
Taliban eastern regional leader

13 Mullah Qari Abdullah -------------------------------- head of the anthrax factory in Kabul before April, 2001, when he disappeared. Believed to be in Europe or the US
He headed a deadly Taliban anthrax factory, Institute of Veterinary Vaccine Production, which was found in Kabul November 18, 2001. The two-storey lab was first built in Charikar, in the northern province of Parwar, in 1993/4 with equipment from India. The lab factory was officially set up for the production of vaccines for cattle using highly dangerous wild anthrax bacteria. Its discovery fuels fears that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror group is behind the US anthrax alert. Taliban political chiefs were quick to realise the potential of the lab after they came to power in 1996. The following year they moved it from Charikar, where the Alliance had a stronghold, to Kabul. Our source said: "The Taliban were very keen to take control of the laboratory. "They moved the staff and all equipment down to the capital without warning. They wanted the laboratory there very badly." Dr Abdul Quader Raoufi, 58, current vaccines chief at the Afghan factory, told us: "We'd rather have been running the labs on our own. "But the mullahs were in charge of everything and we couldn't stop them learning about our activities. Mullah Abdullah, previously famed for his ability to recite from the Koran, was brought in to head the operations. Dr Raoufi said: "He and his Taliban superiors were interested in the technical detail of what happened here, although they had no background in science. Ten different kinds of vaccine were made at the unit. They were divided into four sections - pox vaccines, Newcastle, anaerobic and aerobic. The production of vaccines at the Kabul factory was so successful that some samples were sent to Geneva where the Red Cross congratulated the Taliban on their work. A number of experiments were carried out. Three sheep were infected to study the results. Their carcasses were buried 30ft in desert land on the Shomali Plains away from possible contamination of water supplies. Our source, who refused to be identified, said: "We developed the technology of how to keep anthrax bacteria and how to develop it for use in vaccines. "At the time, we created three million doses. It was essential work to keep our country's cattle healthy." A source who worked at the factory added: "There's no doubt the Taliban were planning chemical or biological warfare against the West. "I believe anthrax might have been first on their list." The anti-West mullah and about half of his staff had vanished in April 2001. They are now believed to be in the US and Europe. Dr Raoufi revealed that the vaccine institute, set up with help from the Red Cross and one of Afghanistan's most modern buildings, once had 45 staff. But more than half left, many saying they meant to work abroad. Dr Raoufi said: "I don't know what happened to these people. "I'm told most went to work in America and Europe. They knew their skills were in demand elsewhere in the world." Referring to the disappearance of Mullah Abdullah, he added: "I've no idea what happened to him. He wasn't well liked. We didn't have a lot to do with him." The factory was bombed by US B-52s in early November. During US air strikes, 13 B-52 bombs landed all around the premises at Badram Bagh, outside Kabul, although none scored a direct hit. It is not clear if the fighters deliberately targeted the lab. All the equipment needed to make vaccines was hidden away the day before the bombardment began. The plant had an incubator to develop the bacteria, hundreds of test tubes ready for samples and the word "anthrax" scribbled on a container. Glass was scattered throughout the building and doors blown off their hinges. At the end of one corridor on the second floor we were led into a small office where our eyes were immediately drawn to the word "Anthrax", scribbled on a test-tube. Hundreds of glass vessels were kept in a large cabinet in readiness for the latest batch of vaccines. Elsewhere, there was a walk-in incubator to develop bacteria, a cold-room where vaccines were stored, a viral vaccine store and an expensive French-made viral vaccine harvesting machine. On one door were the words "to be safe than sorry", the word "better" having fallen off.

14 Haji Mullah Mohammad Ahmadi --------------------- plundered Kabul bank, November 12, 2001
aka Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi. Taliban governor of Kabul. Before fleeing with other Taliban members from Kabul, he showed up at Bank Millie Afghan, Afghanistan's national bank, with a posse of gunmen on the night of November 12, got out the key to the underground strongroom and made off with $5.3 million and 22 million Pakistani rupees ($360,000). "He came with the key, opened the lock, took the money and locked it again," said Mahmoud Sharif, deputy head of the bank's strongroom section. On Tuesday, November 13, US war planes, which stopped bombing the Taliban's front lines shortly before the Opposition offensive began around midday (0730 GMT), redirected their efforts to Taliban targets in the capital itself. A reporter in Kabul said that three bombs struck the city shortly after dusk, one of which hit the house of the Taliban's governor for Kabul, Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi.

15 Jalaluddin Haqqani
prominent Taliban commander

16 Haji Bashar -------------------- has not surrendered weapons in Kandahar, as of December 12, 2001
A Pashtun commander seen as close to the Taliban in Kandahar. On November 17, 2001 Taliban spokesman Maulvi Najibullah told Reuters the Taliban movement had not handed over control of Kandahar to commanders Mullah Naqeebullah and Haji Bashar and "will not do so in future as well". As of December 12, Bashar had still held onto his weapons and vehicles in Kandahar, after the Taliban surrender to Mullah Naqibullah on December 7, 2001.

17 Mullah Abdul Salam Rockti --------------------- surrendered Zabul Province, December 9, 2001
A Pashtun Taliban commander, surrendered Zabul Province December 9, 2001

18 Mullah Sayed Mohammad Haqani --------------------- surrendered Zabul Province,
December 9, 2001, security official in charge at the border town of Spin Boldak
aka Mohammed Saeed Haqqani. A Pashtun Taliban commander, and security official in charge at the border town of Spin Boldak. On November 21, 2001, he said the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon were the work of Jews trying to blacken the name of Islam. "The US has not provided any information about his (Bin Laden's) involvement in the attacks. He has not the telecommunications means to conduct such activities. Being our guest we are duty bound to protect him" and not hand him over to the US authorities. He then went on to place a bounty on the US President's head: "The Americans have offered $25 m for Osama. We will give $50 m for (US President George W.) Bush even though we are a poor country." On Tuesday, November 20, 2001, US Secretary of State Colin Powell had boosted the reward for Bin Laden from $5 mto 25 m, with the bounty advertised in radio broadcasts to Afghanistan, and leaflets distributed on the ground. All good Muslims would reject the opportunity to cash in on the bounty for Bin Laden's capture, Haqqani said. "Being good Muslims we have a strong faith, that's why it is not tempting to us." Asked for proof of Jewish involvement in the September 11 strikes, Haqqani said 4,000 Jews had not gone to work at the World Trade Centre on the day. "And why did the television cameras know where the second plane was going to hit? "They are trying to eliminate Afghanistan. They are trying to blacken our name." On December 9, 2001, Haqani surrendered his control of Zabul Province, the last Taliban holdout. Haqani is not in custody, and has not been charged yet for his threat against the American President.

19 Mullah Naqibullah -------------------- defected from Taliban before Kandahar fell
An ethnic Pashtun member of the Jamiat-e-Islami party of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, Naqibullah is a former governor and military chief of Kandahar under the Taliban. On November 17, Maulvi Najibullah told Reuters the movement had not handed over control of Kandahar to commanders Mullah Naqeebullah and Haji Bashar and "will not do so in future as well". But then under a deal struck by the new government's prime minister, Hamid Karzai, Kandahar's Taliban defenders were to have surrendered to Mullah Naqibullah on December 7, 2001. Pashtun commander Gul Agha Sherzai then pushed into the city from the south to besiege and take control of Kandahar from Naqibullah. During the battle for Kandahar, the Red Cross brought 19 wounded Saudi Arabs loyal to Osama bin Laden to Ward Four in the the city's main hospital, Mirwais Chinese Hospital, in the western section of Kandahar controlled by Naqibullah. By Saturday, December 15, nine were left, clutching grenades to their chests, vowing to blow up anyone who tries to capture them. Five of the original 19 had disappeared several days earlier, and another five escaped Friday night, December 14. Outside, two Afghan tribal commanders stood guard, AK-47s draped casually over their shoulders, barring entry to all but one male nurse trusted to change the Arabs' dressings. "We plan to hand them over to their own country," said Rahman, a commander under Mullah Naqibullah who accepted the Taliban surrender in Kandahar on December 7. "They are from Saudi Arabia. They are soldiers of Osama bin Laden." These are the remnants of a community of Arab radicals who lived in Kandahar under Taliban rule, many of them training in a key al Qaeda camp called Lewa Saradi -- or Wolf's Frontier -- near the city airport, residents say." said a male nurse. But the new city governor, Gul Agha, has not yet proposed a solution. Part of the problem appears to be that the hospital lies in an area of the city controlled by Mullah Naqibullah and off limits to rivals loyal to Gul Agha. U.S. troops, occasionally spotted roaming the streets of Kandahar in open-back pick-ups and army jeeps, had not yet visited the Chinese Hospital.

20 Mullah Maulvi Najibullah ------------------------------------------------------ a senior Taliban official in the southeast Afghan border town of Spinboldak, Foreign Ministry spokesman as of November 17, 2001
Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman. On Wednesday November 14, 2001, Egyptian top-3 Al Qaeda leader and member of the FBI Top 22 Wanted Terrorists List, Mohammed Atef was killed along with seven colleagues in US bombing near Kabul. It was a separate airstrike than the one that killed several Taliban leaders on Tuesday, at a house inside Kabul. On November 17, 2001, Mullah Najibullah, a Taliban official in the southeast Afghan border town of Spinboldak, confirmed Atef's death but would not identify the location of the airstrike or the other Al Qaeda members who died with him. It was the first time a senior Taliban official has confirmed Friday's claim November 16 by U.S. officials that Atef was killed. Those US officials said Atef was struck in a bombing raid outside Kabul. But Maulvi Najibullah then later denied on that Saturday that U.S. bombing had killed Atef. ``He has not been killed, he is safe and sound,'' the Taliban foreign ministry spokesman based at the small southern Afghan border town of Spin Boldak, told Reuters by telephone. Najibullah called reports of Atef's death propaganda, and asked: ``Where is the evidence that he has been killed?'' On November 17, Maulvi Najibullah also told Reuters the movement had not handed over control of Kandahar to commanders Mullah Naqeebullah and Haji Bashar and "will not do so in future as well".

21 Haji Ghulam Mohammed Maidani -------------------------- surrendered at Maidan Shahr, November 24, 2001, had
commander of the Taleban forces at Maidan Shahr. He is widely despised and has a brutal reputation. The alliance had paid the Taleban commander some $200,000 to defect - but he took the money and stayed in the hills. It appears that the Taleban commander feared reprisals for acts of brutality when he was in control of the village. Ghulam Mohammed finally surrendered his holdout in the hills above Maidan Shahr on November 24, 2001. There is no indication if he will be prosecuted for any atrocities of his Taliban rule in the village of Maidan Shahr.

22 Arbab Mohammed Hashim ----------------------------- KILLED in helicopter crash at Takhar Province, December 9, 2001, had defected at Kunduz November 2001
Well-known ethnic Pashtun leader thought to have defected from the Taleban during the militia's defeat in Kunduz province in November, 2001.

23 General Mirza Ghulam Muhammad Nasri - --------------------------- KILLED in helicopter crash at Takhar Province, December 9, 2001, had defected at Kunduz airport November 16, 2001
aka General Mirai Nasery. Well-known prominent ethnic Pashtun Taliban commander thought to have defected from the Taleban during the militia's defeat in Kunduz province in November. On November 16 2001 at the village of Musazai near the Kunduz airport, just after the Northern Alliance announced the defection of Mirza Muhammad Nasri, along with 1,000 of his Afghan Taliban troops, foreign al Qaeda soldiers gunned down 125 Afghan Taliban soldiers who had been stopped on their way to the front lines, trying to defect. A fight had begun and the foreign Taliban opened fire on the troops of Mr. Nasri's son-in-law, Noor Aga, who was the commander of those killed at Musazai.

24 Noor Aga --------------------------- KILLED while defecting, by al Qaeda at Musazai, near Kunduz airport November 16, 2001
Mirza Nasri's son-in-law, Noor Aga, was the commander of those dozens of Afghan Taliban soldiers killed at the village of Musazai near the Kunduz airport, by foreign Taliban soldiers on November 16, 2001. The foreign Taliban soldiers gunned down 125 Afghan Taliban soldiers who had been stopped on their way to the front lines. The foreign Taliban soldiers seem to have decided that the local Taliban were trying to defect. When they tried to stop them, a fight began and the foreign Taliban opened fire. The reported killings at Musazai occurred just after the Northern Alliance announced the defection of Mirza Muhammad Nasri, a prominent Taliban commander.

25 Nizamuddin ------------------------- KILLED while defecting, by al Qaeda at Alchin, north of Kunduz November 16, 2001
Pashtun Taliban commander at Kunduz. In the first of the reported killings before dawn Friday morning, November 16, 2001, in the village of Alchin, a front-line hamlet about three miles north of Kunduz, foreign Taliban soldiers gunned down 70 local Taliban who were preparing to defect. According to the accounts, the slain troops belonged to a commander named Nizamuddin, a Pashtun from Kandahar. An overwhelming majority of the Taliban troops are Pashtuns, so a defection by commander of that ethnic group with his men could provoke particular anger among hard-line Taliban leaders. The foreign Taliban fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a truck carrying fleeing Afghan Taliban as it neared the front line. Then, the foreign Taliban sprayed the remaining group with machine-gun fire.

26 Mullah Hamidullah Khan ------------------------------------ defected at Kunduz November 24, 2001
Senior Taliban commander at Kunduz

27 Mullah Faizal ---------------------------- surrendered at Kunduz November 25, 2001
Taliban commander at Kunduz

28 Mullah Amidullah ------------------------------ surrendered at Kunduz November 25, 2001
Top Taliban leader from Ishkamesh in Konduz province

29 Omar brothers ------------------------------------ offered to surrender November 18, 2001, at Kunduz, top Taliban commander and his brother Hajii
Hajii Omar, brother of a top Taliban commander in Kunduz, on Sunday November 18, 2001 offered to surrender their northern stronghold city of Kunduz to the opposition alliance. The offer was made during negotiations by radio with the Taliban in Kunduz, the last city in the north held by the Taliban. Under the offer, the Taliban would surrender if the opposition alliance guaranteed the safety of non-Afghans fighting with the Taliban and if the surrender were witnessed by United Nations representatives.
There are an estimated 3,000 non-Afghans fighting with the Taliban in Kunduz, including Arabs believed to be affiliated with Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network as well as Pakistanis.
Alliance commanders had been delaying an attack on Kunduz for days as negotiations proceeded, saying they wanted to avoid civilian causalities. The reported surrender offer came on the heaviest day to date of bombing in the region by US warplanes.

30 Mullah Bismillah --------------------------- defected from Taliban at Kandahar November 9, 2001
in charge of a Taliban ammunition depot in Kandahar. Bismillah fled Kandahar for the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta in early November because of heavy U.S. bombing, and because he said he did not believe in sacrificing his life for Saudi-born Islamic radical Osama bin Laden.

31 Younis Khalis --------------------------------------------- head of a Hizb-e-Islami faction, abandoned the Taliban at Jalalabad on November 14, to take control of Torkham checkpoint on the Pakistan border. On November 17, 2001, Khalis lost out in the campaign for control of Jalalabad. Taliban positions in and around Jalalabad had come under heavy aerial bombardment overnight November 13-14 by US warplanes. On November 14, 2001, a day after Kabul fell, Younis Khalis declared himself independent of both the Taliban and the northern alliance, then he abandoned the Taliban at Jalalabad to take control of Torkham checkpoint on the Pakistan border. But the "liberation" of Nangarhar province in the east and its strategic capital Jalalabad was affected by forces loyal to Younis Khalis, head of a breakaway faction of the Hizb-e-Islami mujahedin outfit. In a sign of the possible frictions ahead, a spokesman for Khalis told AIP his forces would brook no interference from outside. "Neither the Northern Alliance nor anybody else should try to enter into Nangarhar," the spokesman said. But on November 17, 2001, Khalis lost out in the local campaign for control of Jalalabad to Haji Abdul Qadir, the brother of the recently-murdered Pashtun leader Abdul Haq, when local militia commanders in the eastern Afghan city agreed to return the region's former governor to office, as the new governor of Nangarhar province. Jalalabad is Pashtun territory, entrance to the Khyber Pass, on the northern Pakistan border, east of Kabul. This city seems to have stabilized under the control of Qadir. Mr Qadir, who fled the region in 1996 after it was captured by the Taleban, originally welcomed Osama Bin Laden when he arrived from Sudan in the mid-1990s. Qadir is the brother of the prominent anti-Taleban guerrilla leader, Abdul Haq, who in October 2001 was captured and killed by the Taleban after he returned to Afghanistan to try to persuade members of his Pashtun ethnic group to abandon the Taleban. The militia commanders who up until November 16 were controlling Jalalabad took two days to reach an agreement on how to share power. A Shura, or council, with representatives from several different factions and militias met throughout Friday, November 16. There had been fears that the talks would break down and that with hundreds of heavily armed gunmen on the streets of the city this would spark more violence. Hard-line Pashtun warlord Younis Khalis had also been a contender for power in the province. As of November 18, 2001, there was reportedly still fighting going on with 1,000-1,500 Arab Al Qaeda forces in the hills near Jalalabad. On November 19, 2001 in Jalalabad, the new anti-Taliban governor of Nangarhar province, Abdul Qadir, offered to help US and British commandos search for bin Laden and al-Qaida fighters in the rugged mountains of his province. He said there were hundreds of Arab fighters holed up in the Tora-Bora camp in Nangarhar and he would be happy to help coalition forces root them out. Dozens of US Special Forces later arrived via many helicopter landings into Jalalabad, and set out from there on their way by trucks up to the Tora Bora cave region to root out al Qaeda at their last major holdout through the month of December 2001.

32 Mullah Qahir ------------------------------------------ captured at Mazar-i-Sharif, November 6, 2001, local commander
Forces opposed to Afghanistan's ruling Taliban gained ground in the north in a slow-moving campaign to try to recapture the strategic city of Mazar-i-Sharif on November 6, 2001. They had also captured several Taliban fighters including local commanders Mullah Qahir and Mullah Rowhani. "Our fighters have seized Zari Bazar, Baluch and Wayemar areas near Keshendeh in Balkh in overnight fighting," Ustad Muhakik, one of the three veteran commanders waging the battle to take Mazar-i-Sharif, told Reuters. Keshendeh lies some 40 km (25 miles) south of Mazar-i-Sharif, capital of Balkh province that borders the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan and had been at the heart of fighting for several weeks in which the opposition launched several offensives, only to be beaten back by the Taliban. Five people from both sides were killed in the fighting for Zari Bazar, a town that had changed hands numerous times since May. Mohakik said the offensive in Balkh was a joint attack by his Shiite Muslim forces and those loyal to ethnic Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum and had forced the Taliban to retreat.

33 Mullah Rowhani ------------------------------------------ captured at Mazar-i-Sharif, November 6, 2001, local commander
Forces opposed to Afghanistan's ruling Taliban gained ground in the north in a slow-moving campaign to try to recapture the strategic city of Mazar-i-Sharif on November 6, 2001. They had also captured several Taliban fighters including local commanders Mullah Qahir and Mullah Rowhani.

34 Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ---------------------------- rogue warlord at Serobi, ruler of Logar Province, as of November 20, 2001
The area of the dam at Serobi that provides the capital Kabul's electricity is believed to be under the control of groups linked to this exiled Pathan warlord and former comrade-in-arms of the alliance. On November 14, 2001 Logar province fell to local commanders loyal to the notorious exiled warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a bitter rival of Younis Khalis, who then later lost his own bid to rule neighboring Nangarhar Province to the east.

35 Shah Zadah ---------------------------------- rogue commander at Serobi, as of November 20, 2001
commander in charge of the dam at Serobi that provides the capital's electricity, he had possibly pulled the plug on the city November 20, 2001. Serobi is 15 miles west of the place on the main road between Kabul and Jalalabad where four journalists were pulled out of their cars and shot dead on November 20. Another version of events of the power outage had the search party of 300 Northern Alliance troops, sent out to find the missing four journalists, clashing with bandits in the hills and damaging the power lines in the process. Reporters who took the same road from Kabul on November 21 to investigate the source of the blackout were robbed at gunpoint by men claiming to be under the command of Shah Zadah.

36 Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef -------------------------- rendered irrelevant after fall of Taliban at Kandahar, as of December 7, 2001
Taliban's sole ambassador, and Pakistan envoy. On November 20, 2001 Pakistan ordered Zaeef to close consulates in Peshawar and in Quetta. The Taliban embassy will be allowed to operate until an interim Afghan government is established. He was summarily dismissed by Pakistan without any official fanfare, after the fall of Kandahar, on December 7, 2001.

37 Abdur Rassool Sayyaf ------------------------------- turned against al Qaeda, leader of the Ittehad-e-Islami faction of the Northern Alliance, which had the largest Arab force during the 1980's war agains the Soviets, former al Qaeda sympathizer
Sayyaf leads the northern alliance Ittehad-e-Islami faction. During the 1980s war against the Soviet occupation, Sayyaf's party had the largest number of Arabs in its ranks. Sayyaf, who has stayed loyal to former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, was considered close to Arab militants fighting in Afghanistan. The rebel leader Sayyaf sided with Iraq against the U.S.-led coalition in the 1991 Gulf War. Like bin Laden, he also has publicly opposed the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia. Documents shown to The Associated Press showed that Sayyaf had requested that Rabbani provide Afghan citizenship to 604 Arabs in 1993. At the time, Sayyaf's lieutenant, Ahmed Shah Ahmedzai, was Rabbani's interior minister. But Sayyaff fought a fierce battle against the al Qaeda forces, for the hills of Paghman, barely 12 miles outside Kabul, on November 15, 2001. Sayyaf's support for the assault on Arab militants is an unusual change of heart. The November 15 battle was the first major ground assault on the Arabs and Pakistanis who fled with the retreating Taliban rulers from Kabul at dawn Tuesday, November 13, 2001. Several hundred al-Qaida members were headquartered in Paghman, many living in Sayyaf's abandoned home. Twenty of the Arabs had booby trapped their bodies. With detonation devices in their hands, they dared their attackers to engage in hand-to-hand combat. As the northern alliance troops attacked, the Arabs detonated the booby traps, killing themselves and their assailants. After the battle, at his home in Paghman, Sayyaf refused to answer questions about the battle with the al-Qaida warriors or his long association with militant Arabs. On Friday, November 16, Inayat Ullah, a former secretary for Sayyafs lieutenant Ahmedzai, found several Afghan passports belonging to Arabs of al-Qaida as well as Yemeni passports in a safe house belonging to bin Laden's terrorist network.

38 Mowlawi Islam --------------------------------- surrendered, November 11, 2001 governor of Bamian province
Bamian province governor. On November 11, 2001, anti-Taliban forces captured the central Afghan town of Bamian after the provincial governor surrendered to the opposition. "Bamian governor Mowlawi Islam and 300 of his troops surrendered and joined the (opposition) forces," an Iranian radio correspondent reported from Afghanistan. The correspondent said opposition forces also captured the towns of Kahmard and Sayghan in Bamian province without facing any resistance from Taliban forces.

39 Abdul Rahman Jan --------------------- ceased fighting, tribal Pashtun commander, close to the Taliban in Helmand province, took power in rivalry battle December 9
Pashtun Noorzai tribal commander, took control of the Helmand provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, December 9, 2001, in a post-Taliban rivalry battle with Pashtun Barakzai tribal commander Hafeezullah Jan, that left 7 dead.

40 Hafeezullah Jan --------------------- ceased fighting, tribal Pashtun commander, close to the Taliban in Helmand province, took power December 7 2001, but lost it in battle December 9
Pashtun Barakzai tribal commander who took control of Helmand Province immediately after the Taliban abandoned it on December 7. On late Saturday November 17 and Sunday morning November 18, 42 people were killed in bombing raids close to the Taliban's southern stronghold of Kandahar, Pakistan's AIP said. "Most of the victims were tribal nomads," who died during an intense aerial bombardment of Maywand district, 70 kilometers west of Kandahar city. The Taliban then fled the Helmand province capital, Lashkar Gah, when Kandahar fell on December 7, and Hafeezullah Jan then stepped into power. But Hafeezullah Jan then eventually withdrew in defeat from the Helmand provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, December 9, 2001, in a post-Taliban rivalry battle with Pashtun Noorzai tribal commander Abdul Rahman Jan, that left 7 dead.

41 Mohammed Zaman Ghun Shareef -------------------------------------- an Afghan Pashtun exile leader, in Pakistan November 15, 2001, vying for control of Jalalabad from Younis Khalis and Abdul Qadir
On November 15, 2001 Pakistan forces (ISI) were actively supporting a rival faction, the Eastern Shura, led by Zaman Ghun Shareef, to take back control of Jalalabad, 70 miles from their northwest border, after their Taliban forces fled the city only days earlier. At dusk on Thursday, November 15, Pak border forces allowed this armed group to cross the Torkham border, on its way to Jalalabad. The convoy of several hundred Afghan guerrilla veterans crossed the border from Pakistan into eastern Afghanistan, vowing to negotiate or fight their way to power in the city of Jalalabad. Their potential opponents were not Taliban forces, but another guerrilla group led by Younis Khalis, that had taken control of the city. "It is our country, so we have a right to return, whether the situation is secure or not," said Mohammed Zaman Ghun Shareef, an Afghan exile leader, as hundreds of veteran fighters in traditional Afghan dress milled impatiently that morning at his compound in Peshawar, a city near the Afghan border. "We are going in peace, for peace," Zaman said, "but if we must fight, we will fight." Jalalabad was said to have been taken over by one faction of the Northern Alliance forces under the leadership of Yunis Khalis and his popular local commander, Abdul Qadir. "The people of Jalalabad are much worried about what will happen now," said Gul Agha, a businessman from Jalalabad who reached Peshawar on Thursday. "Many people like Qadir, but Zaman says he has more followers. They don't care about the welfare of the people, they just want to take power in the province." Zaman's caravan, accompanied by a group of journalists, crossed the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan at dusk on November 15, heading toward Jalalabad 70 miles to the west. By some accounts, the convoy was assisted by Pakistani intelligence agencies, who appear to be sponsoring Zaman in a bid to gain influence over the crucial border region. Most of the convoy was allowed to cross the border, which is officially closed to traffic from Pakistan. Police stopped several vehicles carrying some foreign journalists and refused to let them follow. Informed sources said that the Afghan city of Jalalabad was in the hands of Afghan forces and a unity council drawing on all local chiefs. Warlordism was then avoided after two days of intense talks when Qadir was selected by the council to be the new governor of the province on November 17, 2001.

42 - 47 Six Unknown ------------------------- KIA, total of 12 in all reported by War Planners as of December 12, 2001

-- posted by Steven_Russell