Hamidullah Tara-Khel
After more than 13 years Hamidullah Tara-Khel was released from Guantanamo prison. He was detained 31 July 2003 by Afghan National Army as a member of Hezb-e Islami, and 21 November 2003 he was handed over to the US forces and transferred to Guantanamo. Process of Hamidullah Tara-Khel was based on testimony of members of Jamiat-e Islami, collected and represented by Afghan National Directorate of Security. The evidence that he was an anti-American insurgent does not stack up and the accusations against him were outlandish and fantastical: his detention looked, rather, to be a case of factional enmity. For example, the US accused Hamidullah, along with various of his family members, of having fought with Hezb-e Islami, led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, against the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. He freely admits to this and also points out that in the 1980s, America also supported Hezb-e Islami. There are lots of factual mistakes about Afghanistan and insurgents in Hamidullah’s file. Hamidullah is not actually accused of carrying out any specific attacks, rather of planning (mostly failed) attacks and meeting people. Obama’s 2009 Task Force review decided Hamidullah needed to be detained indefinitely. His Periodic Review Board took a different line. After 12 years detention and repeated scrutiny of his file, finally, the Board said there was “a lack of clear information regarding his involvement with al-Qa’ida or the Taliban”. The Board noted Hamidullah does not support a “jihadist ideology,” had been a “highly compliant” prisoner and is now an old, ill man. He has asked to be resettled somewhere other than Afghanistan or Pakistan where he can live safely. Hamidullah’s always looked to be a clear case of local enmity, where one mujahedin faction had gained control of the Afghan intelligence agency and used it and the United States to target an enemy. Yet, the dearth of any actual evidential basis for the claims against Hamidullah and the fantastical accusations in themselves finally resulting his releasing from Guantanamo.
