Abdur Rab Rasool Sayyaf

Sayyaf was a fundamentalist Islamic scholar. He studied in Kabul and Cairo and advocated strict Islamic law, no education for women, public veiling, and other practices considered medieval today. One of the mujadeen commanders still active politically, Sayyaf was a member of the Loya Jirga convened by Karzai to legitimize his administration, and he argued for the inclusion of explicit Islamic language in the new constitution.

In 1973, Sayyaf joined Hekmatyar and Masud in an attempt to overthrow the government. The attempt failed, and Sayyaf fled to Pakistan. He went back when the government changed but still was imprisoned as a threat to the state. Most of the men arrested with him died in prison, but Sayyaf had relatives in the government and was released. Back in Pakistan, he joined the exiled leaders in forming a guerilla resistance to the Communist government in Kabul.

As a convert to the Wahhabist version of Islam, Sayyaf was set apart from other Afghans and closely connected to the Saudis and their petro-dollars. The Saudis, through their chief of intelligence, Prince Turki, sent billions to Afghanistan to fight the communists and spread the Wahhabist creed. Sayyaf has no real popular base amongst Afghans, but as the spigot head of money and guns coming from Arabia, he managed to gather many Pashtun commanders to his organization. He also had by far the largest share of foreign volunteer fighters. Uzbeks, Chechens, Filipinos, Arabs, and many others served under Sayyaf. This foreign legion was much hated by Afghans for their arrogance and contempt of local customs. Sayyaf and Osama worked together closely for years, training fighters and building bases. The famous Philippine Islamic terrorist group “Abu Sayyaf” is named after him because core members trained in Afghanistan.

When the Taliban arrived, most of Sayyaf’s commanders defected. He took what few remained and joined Masud's northern alliance, where he served as a liaison to the Arab world. He vouched for the Al-Queda “reporters” who killed Masud, something he will never live down, especially since he used to be close to Osama. Sayyaf is an old man now, but still actively trying to promote a conservative Islamic agenda in Afghanistan.