Nationality Afghanistan Known for Taliban Governor | Name Abdul Rauf Role Taliban governor | |
Other names Hajji Mullah Maulvi Abdul Rauf Khadim Occupation Military Commander/Politician Died February 9, 2015, Helmand Province, Afghanistan | ||
Abdul Rauf Aliza also known as Hajji Mullah Maulvi Abdul Rauf Khadim was an Afghan military commander, who having been a commander with the then ruling Taliban, in late 2014 pledged allegiance to Islamic State.
Having become a foot soldier for several known Taliban commanders, he eventually became a member of Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s elite mobile reserve force before the attacks on September 11, 2001. From 2003 onwards Rauf served as a Taliban spokesman, and was the Taliban's last Governor of Konar Province.
Subsequently captured by US Army forces in Helmand province, he was sent to Guantanamo Bay for detention and interview. Held there as detainee 108, he was assessed according to documents later released by Wikileaks by US officials as:
Assessed not to be a threat, Rauf was recommended for transfer out and continued detainment in another country, and hence transferred back to Afghanistan in 2007. There he rejoined the Taliban in Helmand province, and built up a fighting force in Helmand and neighboring Kandahar province. He subsequently became a Taliban politician.
Some time after the withdrawal of Coalition troops from Helmand province in October 2014, Rauf pledged allegiance to Islamic State, and began recruiting in southern Afghanistan. In January 2015 local Taliban commanders and tribal elders advised locals not to engage with Rauf or his deputies. Rauf was then named as deputy leader of IS in "Khorasan" - an old name for Afghanistan - by the ISIS organisation in Syria.
On 9 February 2015 a US Air Force drone attacked a car allegedly carrying Abdul Rauf Aliza and five others, in the desert of Helmand Province, destroying the vehicle and the ammunition that it was carrying back from northern Pakistan.