Special Reports & Tweets - 20140603_SpecialReport-2_Alex
Aired: 2014-06-03
Duration: 02:53


=== Taliban's High-Risk Commanders (02:19) ===

[00:00:00]  Thanks for watching.
[00:00:13]  The Guantanamo Five are top Taliban commanders, and the group has tried to free them for more than a decade.
[00:00:19]  According to a 2008 Pentagon dossier on Guantanamo Bay inmates, it was disclosed by WikiLeaks, All five men released were considered to be a high risk to launch attacks against the U.S.
[00:00:30]  and its allies if they were liberated.
[00:00:33]  Mullah Mohammad Fazl is Taliban's former Deputy Defense Minister and is wanted by the United Nations for his role in massacres targeting Afghan's Shiite Muslim population.
[00:00:43]  Mullah Nawrullah Nouri was a senior Taliban military figure directly subordinate to Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Omar.
[00:00:51]  Nouri led troops against US and coalition forces and is also wanted by the UN for possible war crimes, including the murder of thousands of Shiites.
[00:01:00]  Abdul Haq Wasiq is a former Deputy Minister of Intelligence.
[00:01:05]  At one point, he tried to cooperate with U.S.
[00:01:07]  forces in Afghanistan, asking for a GPS system as well as a special radio to communicate with the U.S.
[00:01:13]  military after the invasion in 2001.
[00:01:17]  His dossier says that while he was Deputy Intelligence Minister, he was a crucial liaison between the Taliban and other Islamic fundamentalist groups.
[00:01:25]  Mohammed Nabi Omari held several military leadership posts for the Taliban.
[00:01:31]  He helped organize the Al-Qaeda and Taliban militias that fought against U.S.
[00:01:35]  and coalition troops in the first year of the war.
[00:01:38]  Nabi maintained weapons caches and supported extremist activities by smuggling fighters and weapons.
[00:01:44]  Nabi maintains strong ties to active networks.
[00:01:49]  A former Taliban governor of Herat was considered by the Pentagon's 2008 dossier to be a likely
[00:01:55]  heroin trafficker and a major opium drug lord in western Afghanistan.
[00:02:00]  And he likely participated in meetings with Iranian officials after 9-11 to help plot

=== Taliban Influence Swap (00:49) ===

[00:02:05]  attacks on U.S. forces.
[00:02:06]  forces.
[00:02:06]  The dossier says the detainee claimed to be a longtime friend of Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai.
[00:02:13]  According to Afghanistananalysts.org, Karikwa is the most senior of the five on the list.
[00:02:19]  He is one of the fraternity of original Taliban who launched the movement in 1994.
[00:02:24]  In other words, he is someone who will still command a great deal of influence and respect among today's insurgents.
[00:02:32]  This week's secret diplomacy was not the first time the U.S.
[00:02:34]  government has engaged the Taliban in an effort to negotiate a prisoner swap for Bergdahl's release.
[00:02:40]  In 2011, State Department officials held a series of meetings with Taliban leaders in Doha.
[00:02:46]  At the time, Dianne Feinstein opposed the swap, saying, these are major Taliban figures.
[00:02:51]  They are not minor people.