KABUL, Afghanistan ? In life and death, Sabar Lal?s story was riddled
with conflicting narratives. Multimedia Map RelatedTroops Kill Man Linked
to Al Qaeda and Attacks (September 4, 2011) Coach Handbags Outlet
Times Topic: AfghanistanAfter the fall of the Taliban government in 2001,
he claimed to be on the side of the Americans in the hunt for Al Qaeda,Chanel Outlet
but United States troops accused him of helping Osama bin
Laden and his allies flee to Pakistan. Coco Chanel Outlet
After five years in the American detention center at Guantánamo Bay,
Cuba, he returned to Afghanistan in 2007 and built a new life with Moncler Store
his two wives and nine children. They lived comfortably in a wealthy section
of Jalalabad, one of the safer big cities in the country.
But suspicions lingered, and on Friday, Louis Vuitton Online
coalition and Afghan forces killed him in a night raid at his residence,
acting on intelligence that he had been using his wealth to help lead
and finance insurgent attacks in the Pech Valley in Kunar, Chanel Outlet
the northeastern province where he grew up. Coach Handbags
His death has angered members of the Afghanistan High Peace Council,
who are responsible for reconciliation efforts with militants.
Council members say that just days earlier they had won a promise from
coalition forces to stop bothering Mr. Lal after they had detained him last month.
NATO officials insist they had not detained him. Moncler Coats Outlet
These conflicting details, among many others, add to the puzzle of Mr.Cheap North Face
Lal?s life before and after Guantánamo. His killing comes as the Peace Council,
appointed by President Hamid Karzai, is struggling to persuade Taliban fighters
to lay down their arms and rejoin society. Some council members worried Sunday that
NATO?s raid on Mr. Lal?s compound could further undermine those efforts.
?It really hurts the prestige of the Peace Council among the people of Afghanistan,?
said Haji Deen Muhammad, a council member. ?More importantly, those
Taliban members who were released through our process Moncler Shop
are going to have big concerns that this will happen to them.? Coach Wallets
Council members said NATO and Afghan forces detained Mr. Lal,
who was in his late 40s, in an operation early last month, Louis Vuitton Outlet
then turned him over to the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan?s main
intelligence agency. But after assurances from Afghan intelligence officials and
high-level government officials that he did not pose a threat, the council,
working closely with its NATO counterparts, obtained his release, said Farhadullah Farhad,
the council?s deputy chief executive officer. Coach Outlet Online
?Everybody was involved,? he said, adding, ?They would not have released him unless he was proven innocent.?
Lt. Col. Jimmie E. Cummings Jr., a spokesman for the NATO-led military coalition,
said that until the operation that killed Mr. Lal, NATO forces had never coach online outlet store
?detained him or had him in custody.? Officials with the National Directorate of
Security did not respond to questions on Sunday. www.louisvuitton.com
White House officials have long worried about Guantánamo detainees reverting
to terrorism after their release. More than 600 prisoners have been released
or transferred to prisons elsewhere since 2002, a Defense Department
spokeswoman said Sunday. Last year, the Obama administration told Congress
that 117 former detainees were confirmed or suspected of turning to
terrorist activity. The prison still holds 171 detainees. LV
Mr. Lal, who was identified in Guantánamo records as Sabar Lal Melma,
was viewed by officials there as someone more committed to self-interest than to any cause.
He had come from a wealthy family in Kunar Province and had ties to prominent tribal elders.
Through years of fighting against the Soviets in the late 1980s and later against the Taliban,
he knew the treacherous mountain terrain along the Pakistan border intimately,
information valued by American forces searching for Qaeda crossing routes.
After the Taliban?s fall in late 2001, coach.com
he was given the rank of brigadier general and put in charge of 600 border security troops in Kunar.
But as Americans searched for Bin Laden in the mountainous Tora Bora region south of Kunar,
they suspected Mr. Lal of orchestrating rocket attacks against American forces.
They also suspected that he and a prominent tribal elder were helping Arab fighters,
perhaps even Bin Laden himself, escape to Pakistan.