Abdullah Mehsud is one of at least 10 former Guantanamo Bay detainees who have been released only to return home to fight again with the Taleban and al Qaeda:
The latest case emerged two weeks ago when two Chinese engineers working on a dam project in Pakistan's lawless Waziristan region were kidnapped. The commander of a tribal militant group, Abdullah Mehsud, 29, told reporters by satellite phone that his followers were responsible for the abductions.
Mehsud said he spent two years at Guantanamo Bay after being captured in 2002 in Afghanistan fighting alongside the Taliban. At the time he was carrying a false Afghan identity card, and while in custody he maintained the fiction that he was an innocent Afghan tribesman, he said. U.S. officials never realized he was a Pakistani with deep ties to militants in both countries, he added.
"I managed to keep my Pakistani identity hidden all these years," he told Gulf News in a recent interview. Since his return to Pakistan in March, Pakistani newspapers have written lengthy accounts of Mehsud's hair and looks, and the powerful appeal to militants of his fiery denunciations of the United States. "We would fight America and its allies," he said in one interview, "until the very end."
Others among the 10 have been recaptured or killed, but
Mehsud is still at large. Meanwhile,
Mehsud is becoming a celebrity:
His long hair and daredevil nature has made him a colourful character. Since his return from Guantanamo Bay, Mehsud has become a hero to anti-US fighters active in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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