| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan |
| Mullah Raketi released from durance vile... |
| 2003-01-08 |
| A former Taliban regional commander has been released from American detention, officials said Wednesday. Mullah Salam, who was allied with the Taliban, arrived home late Tuesday in southeastern Afghanistan's Zabul province, Zabul Gov. Hamidullah Khan said, speaking by telephone from the province's capital of Qalat. "Hi, honey! I'm out of jug. What's for dinner?" It wasn't immediately clear where Salam had been held or why was he freed. U.S. Special Forces troops captured the former Taliban commander in Kandahar in May. Salam, a warlord in Zabul, had earned the nickname "Mullah Rocketi" for his love for high-tech weapons when he was leading forces against the former Soviet troops that invaded Afghanistan in the 1980s. He joined the Taliban when the militia gained power over major parts of Afghanistan in the 1990s, serving as a commander in the eastern city of Jalalabad. People were crowding Salam's home in Zabul's Shahjoi district to greet and congratulate him on his release, but he did not say much about his detention, said Mohammed Gul, a friend of Salam. "Tell ya what, Mullah Raketi. We're gonna let you go home for now. But if you screw with us, first, we're gonna tell what you told us. Second, we know where you live, bub." |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |