Qari Ziaur Rahman is a citizen of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

who is reported to be a leader of the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

's and

al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

's leadership. He was believed to have been killed in March 2011 during an attack on Taliban militants by the Pakistani military, however Ziaur Rahman later phoned media reporters to confirm that he survived the airstrike.

Early life

Qari's father, Ahengar Dilbar, was a blacksmith. Qari Ziaur Rahman reports being from

Konar Province Kunar (Pashto: ; Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. Its capital is Asadabad. Its population is estimated to be 508,224. Kunar's major political groups include Wahhabis or Ahl-e- ...

. He reports that he memorized the entire

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

while a youth. According to a profile in the ''

Asia Times ''Asia Times'' (), formerly known as ''Asia Times Online'', is a Hong Kongbased English language news media publishing group, covering politics, economics, business, and culture from an Asian perspective. ''Asia Times'' publishes in English and ...

'', he grew up surrounded by Arab foreign fighters during the

Soviet occupation of Afghanistan The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by area ...

. According to the ''Asia Times'' he is in his thirties.

Militant career

''Asia Times'' reports that Qari Ziaur Rahman is a leader in the insurgency's efforts in Konar, and that the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

has offered $350,000 bounty for information leading to his death or capture. As is often the case, Taliban exaggerate claims of monetary rewards, proposing inflated figures as propaganda to build credibility among insurgency personnel. Qari Ziaur Rahman was captured in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

by operatives of

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

& ISI. But he was not transferred to US custody. Instead he was part of a prisoner exchange for Pakistani military officials. Bill Roggio, writing in the ''

Long War Journal ''FDD's Long War Journal'' (LWJ) is an American news website, also described as a blog, which reports on the War on terror. The site is operated by Public Multimedia Incorporated (PMI), a non-profit media organization established in 2007. ...

'', reported that he was rumored to have been killed in mid-June 2009. Two weeks later Roggio reported the Pakistan had offered a series of bounties. He reported they offered the equivalent of US$615,000 for

Baitullah Mehsud Baitullah Mehsud ( – 5 August 2009) was a Pakistani militant. He was one of the founders and a leader of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) in Waziristan. He formed the TTP from an alliance of about five militant groups in December 2007.Abbas, Hassan ...

. He reported that for Qari Zaur Rahman they only offered the equivalent of $65,100. Afghan forces reported that Rahman was killed in a coalition drone strike on 21 August 2013. He was reported attending a meeting with three other local insurgents, who were killed, in the

Marawara district Marawara District (; ) is one of the 15 districts in Kunar Province, Afghanistan. It borders Sirkanay District to the west, Asadabad District to the north-west, Dangam District to the north-east and the Durand Line to the south. Marawara's popul ...

of Kunar. Reports of Rahman's death were proven false when he was interviewed by

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

in May 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rahman, Qari Ziaur Taliban leaders Pashtun people Living people Afghan al-Qaeda members Afghan expatriates in Pakistan Year of birth missing (living people)