A former member of Afghanistan’s defense forces, Sabar Lal Melma was killed recently by NATO troops following his long stint as a detainee in Guantánamo.

 

At the time of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, Melma was a commander in an anti-Taliban militia in Konar province. After the fall of the Taliban, he was given the rank of brigadier general in the Afghan military and put in charge of 600 border security troops. U.S. leaders subsequently began to suspect Melma was aiding insurgents, and he was arrested in August 2002 on grounds of helping launch rocket attacks against American forces.

 

After being held at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, he spent five years in Guantánamo. The George W. Bush administration released him to Afghan government custody in September 2007. The Hamid Karzai administration then gave him a full release and he reportedly allied himself with al-Qaeda elements and assisted with attacks on Western soldiers.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Ex-Gitmo Detainee Killed in Afghanistan (by Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal)

The Anonymous Victims Of Guantánamo: Eight More Wrongly Imprisoned Men Are Quietly Released (Andy Worthington)