Afghan Biographies

Muslimdost, Abdul Rahim


Name Muslimdost, Abdul Rahim
Ethnic backgr. Pashtun
Date of birth 1960
Function/Grade Afghan Salafist
History and Biodata

3. Biodata:
Abdul Rahim Manan Muslimdost was born 1960 in Jalalabad, Nangarhar. He is an afghan journalist and jeweller who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 561. He resurfaced in late 2014 as a recruiter and leader for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Ideologically, he can be described as Salafi jihadists. Muslimdost was one of the stalwarts of the Salafi mujahedin front under Mawlawi Jamil-ur-Rahman in Kunar during the anti-Soviet jihad. He has never held an official position among the Afghan Taleban, but has aligned recently with Pakistani Taleban. During the Taleban’s Emirate, he was working with some Saudi-funded aid agencies, later establishing a jewellery business. He was detained in Pakistan in late 2001 and sent, along with his brother, to the Guantanamo detention camp for about four years. More recently, he has tilted towards some Pakistani Taleban groups and reportedly acted as a judge for them, but he has little standing among the Afghan Taleban. He has authored dozens of books about Sharia teachings, politics and poetry and is best known to his potential target audience for his Guantanamo memoir, published in Pashto under the title Matī Zawlanē (Broken Shackles). He now serves as a nexus for recruiting Afghan refugees in Pakistan and sending them to fight alongside IS in Iraq and Syria. Pakistani media have now reported, quoting “well-informed sources in the security establishment”, that Muslimdost had been appointed the chief of IS’s  ”Khorasan chapter”. Afghan journalist, writer and religious scholar Maulvi Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost confirmed allegiance to ISIS, but said he had not been appointed as Emir of Khurasan by ISIS. (20141214)

 

 

More Background:
Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost was one of the 38 captives the Bush Presidency determined had not been enemy combatants after all. The Department of Defense refers to these men as No Longer Enemy Combatants. Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost was freed on April 20, 2005 with sixteen other Afghans whose Tribunals had determined they were not enemy combatants. The Associated Press reported that their release ceremony was addressed by Afghan Chief Justice Fazl Hadi Shinwari. Carlotta Gall of the New York Times reported that the Chief Justice encouraged the men to regard their detention as something sent from God. The reports stated that the Chief Justice warned the cleared men that a candid description of their detention could damage the chances of other Afghan captives to be released.

Last Modified 2023-03-17
Established 2014-11-18