Meet former Guantanamo bay prisoner now negotiating withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan

On September 13th, Faiz Mohammad Ahmed Al Kandari, a former detainee himself tweeted a photo of Mullah Nabi in a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the negotiations between the US and Taliban. Kandari was never charged with war crimes and after being released from Guantanamo he resides in Kuwait

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He wrote: “I still remember when he (Mullah Muhammad Nabi Omari) said to me while we were in the sixth camp, pointing to the sun: My certainty of relief and victory is greater than my certainty that this sun is rising, it is a matter of time, and the consequence is for the righteous.”

History of Omari, the Guantanamo Bay detainee

Nabi Omari is considered to be one of the “Taliban Five”, an influential member of the Taliban.

He was born in Khost, Afghanistan, in 1968.

He was caught and sent to to the Guantanamo Bay.

He arrived at the infamous US Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba in 2002 and stayed there for nearly 12 years in extrajudicial detention.

In 2014, he was released as part of the exchange for US soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, who had been a Taliban prisoner since 2009. He was subsequently transferred to Qatar together with four other men known as the “Taliban Five.”

Read more: Taliban leader shuffles team ahead of peace talks

Today, he is among the delegation taking part in the Afghan peace talks with the Trump administration.

What do you think, why the chief negotiator of #Taliban didn't stand to Pompeo? pic.twitter.com/j9Ej7qzhsk

— Omar Atal (@OmarAtal_) September 12, 2020

The five men were senior leaders in the Taliban, according to journalist Tahir Khan who tracks the Taliban, and they enjoyed “the trust of the foot soldiers.”

They had reportedly made great sacrifices for the movement and were “trusted friends” of the Taliban’s founder, Mullah Mohammed Omar, an official said.

GVS News Desk