Accused of returning to terrorism, former Gitmo detainee a respected Afghan politician

A former Guantanamo Bay detainee who was named by the Pentagon as one of 74 former captives who returned to terrorism after being released has done no such thing.

Instead, he has returned to doing what he was really doing before being picked up by US forces and shuttled off to Gitmo for six years: Working as a politician, a tribal elder representing Afghanistan's Kunar province.

So says a new report from McClatchy Newspapers, which profiles Haji Sahib Rohullah Wakil, a tribal elder who regularly meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other government officials on behalf of the people of Kunar province.

In May, an unreleased Pentagon document was leaked to the press, alleging that one in seven released Gitmo detainees -- fully 74 individuals -- had returned to terrorism once freed.

And while the veracity of that claim was questioned, the leaked Pentagon document was still considered important in changing the Washington establishment's mind about President Obama's plan to shut down the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Shortly after the report made it to the press, Congressional Democrats voted to oppose funding, requested by President Obama, to shut down Guantanamo Bay.

Now, with the apparent confirmation that at least one of the people accused of terrorist recidivism is actually a respected Afghan government official, questions will likely arise about the accuracy of that Pentagon report, as well as the motivations behind its being released to the press.

GITMO CAPTIVE WANTS TO STAY

Sometimes being trapped in a stateless prison with no hope for a fair trial is, well, better than the alternative.

Or at least so says Umar Abdulayev, a Tajik national who was brought to Guantanamo Bay in the earliest days of the camp's existence.

According to the Miami Herald, Abdulayev fears what the government of Tajikistan would do to him so much that he is fighting the US government's plan to release him and send him home.

Abdulayev's lawyer says the Gitmo detainee once refused a demand from Tajikistan's security services to spy on Muslim radicals in the country. As a result, he believes he is persona non grata in his homeland, and that, coupled with the stigma of having been a Gitmo prisoner, means he is at risk of torture, or worse.

Abdulayev's lawyer says he is open to the possibility of taking asylum in a third country.