Word: mullah
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...military has taken heat lately for holding and in some cases abusing innocent civilians in its prisons abroad. But at least one Guantanamo detainee, Taliban commander Mullah Shahzada, has proved anything but harmless. Soon after he was released last July--military officials believed there was no cause to hold him--Shahzada seized control of Taliban operations in southern Afghanistan. He recruited fighters by telling harrowing tales of his supposed ill-treatment in the cages of Guantanamo. He proved to be an effective insurgent. A Taliban source told TIME that it was Shahzada who masterminded a jailbreak in Kandahar in October...
...local hero. Mobs of cheering tribesmen gather when his six-vehicle convoy, each auto mounted with machine guns, roars past. "I believe in the concept of jihad," Mohammed told reporters in his village of Shakai after the truce was signed, adding that he still considers Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar to be his "Commander of the Faithful." With al-Qaeda safe once again in their sanctuary, U.S. commanders will have to come up with another plan if they expect to hit the enemy where he lives...
...truce, however, could be a severe setback for the Bush Administration, which has been leaning on Pakistan to carry out a clean sweep of al-Qaeda and the Taliban from the tribal territory. Mohammed is a former Taliban commander who still swears loyalty to fugitive leader Mullah Omar and was earlier accused by the Pakistani government of giving shelter to al-Qaeda fighters, possibly including Osama bin Laden. In this area Pakistani troops last month mistakenly thought they had cornered bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri...
...repressive Islamic Republic of Iran, a cleric isn't a very popular thing to be nowadays. Mohsen Kadivar is a celebrated exception. A theorist behind Iran's struggling democracy movement, the modest mullah packs lecture halls like a pop star and attracts readers like a pulp-fiction author. Students in his graduate philosophy classes at Tarbiat Modarres University in Tehran hang on his every utterance. Kadivar, 44, has found academic stardom a dangerous occupation in Iran--in 1999 he was jailed for 18 months for his ideas. But his scholarly perseverance has led to breakthroughs in one of the great...
...Administration official in Washington. But attacks last week on the Mahdi Army make it unlikely that moderate Shi'ite leaders can act to sideline the young firebrand. Sistani would no doubt love to see the end of his headstrong rival, but it's hard to imagine an Iraqi mullah condoning U.S. action against an Islamic cleric. In the past, Sistani marginalized al-Sadr by ignoring him, according to Noah Feldman, a New York University professor who was an adviser to the coalition authority. As a result of the clashes, says Feldman, "we've tied Sistani's hands." Last week Ayatullah...