Ustad Abdul Rasul Sayyaf
Also known as Abd-i-Rab Rasoul Sayaf and originally named Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, Ustad Abdul Rasul Sayyaf is a Wahhabi Pashtun warlord who leads a Pashtun militia that was allied with the United Front (Northern Alliance). He was backed by Saudi Arabia and was the only anti-Taliban Pashtun leader that was allied with the United Front prior to the fall of Kabul.
Sayyaf was prominent in the mujahideen war against the Soviet occupation as a leader of the Itihad-i-Islami Baraye Azadi Afghanistan (United Islamic Front for the Liberation of Afghanistan). He was an active member of the mujahideen coalition "Unity of Seven." He is described as conservative, "anti-West," "anti-American" and a hard line Islamic fundamentalist. He holds a degree in religion from Kabul University and a masters from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. He was also a member of the radical group Akhwan-ul-Muslimeen (Muslim Brotherhood) founded in 1969 by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Dr. Syed Burhanuddin Rabbani. Based in Afghanistan, this faction had strong links to the better known Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. This group was known to engage in radical Islamic practices, such as throwing acid in the faces of unveiled women. He taught for a short time at a small Islamic university called The Shariat in Kabul. His tenure ended in 1973 when he plotted with Burhanuddin Rabbani, Ahmed Shah Massoud and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to overthrow President Daoud Khan from the Panjshir Valley, a coup that failed miserably and forced the future-mujahideen leaders to flee to Pakistan.
Sayyaf, a Wahabi Muslim, had a close relationship with Osama bin Laden during the jihad against the Soviets. Together they established a network of training camps, bunkers and emplacements in the Jalalabad area. The facilities were later used by Al-Qaeda personnel. ("Former bin Laden mentor warns the West," Telegraph 03/12/2001)
In 2001 Sayyaf was the only Pashtun member of the Northern Alliance, although few of their fighting forces were Pashtun. He did not have many forces under his command and was under suspicion when he allegedly arranged the interview in which Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated. Hekmatyar and the Taliban commanded most of the Pashtun support in Afghanistan. Pashtuns comprise approximately 40% of the Afghan population, and are the traditional rulers of Afghanistan. Therefore Sayyaf wielded little clout as a military leader since most of his commanders had joined sides with the Taliban during the civil war. Ustad (Professor) Sayyaf, fluent in Arabic, had a substantial amount of men under his command because he was able to pay them with donations he received from wealthy Arab benefactors. Despite Sayyaf's presence in the Northern Alliance, the allied group did not represent a nationwide coalition of Afghanistan's numerous ethnic, religious and linguistic groups.
In 2003 Sayyaf was elected to be one of the 502 representatives at the Constitutional Loya Jirga in Kabul. The convention faced much contention and deadlock, and as a former mujahideen leader Sayyaf heavily influenced the future constitution by chairing one of the working groups at the Loya Jirga. Critics feared at the time that the other delegates would be intimidated by the mujahideen leaders' power and would be afraid to disagree with them in committee. Dr. Farooq Wardak, head of the Constitutional Commission's secretariat, said the organization originally wanted to divide the 502 delegates randomly among 10 working groups. But Abdul Rasul Sayyaf had objected, suggesting that the delegates should be divided among the groups to ensure an equal distribution of professional expertise, provincial origin, gender and other criteria. "Those who know the constitution, the ulema [Islamic scholars], and the lawyers should be split into different groups so that the results of the discussion and debate will be positive, and closer to each other," said Sayyaf.
During gridlock over the draft constitution in January 2004, Karzai was forced to compromise with hard-line Islamic fundamentalists like Sayyaf to include an ambiguous clause prohibiting any law from offending Islam. Critics claimed that although the constitution paid lip service to democratic rights such as equal status for women, such a clause would allow reactionary Islamic beliefs to prevail. Sayyaf's influence in the convention was felt further when his ally Fazal Hadi Shinwari was appointed by Karzai as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In violation of the constitution, he was over the age limit and had training only in religious, not secular, law. Shinwari went on to pack the Supreme Court with sympathetic mullahs, called for Taliban-style punishments and renewed the Taliban's dreaded Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, renamed the Ministry of Haj and Religious Affairs. It deploys squads to prevent public displays of "un-Islamic" behavior among Afghan women.
