The Shamshato refugee camp is a large

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for in ...

25 kilometers southeast of

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

, the capital of

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# ...

's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Peshawar lies just east of Pakistan's former Tribal Areas, which are on Pakistan's international border with

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 ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

intelligence analysts Intelligence analysis is the application of individual and collective cognitive methods to weigh data and test hypotheses within a secret socio-cultural context. The descriptions are drawn from what may only be available in the form of delibera ...

asserted during

Guantanamo captive The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO ( ), GITMO ( ), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by ...

Sharifullah's

Combatant Status Review Tribunal The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as " enemy combatants". The CSRTs were establi ...

and his annual

Administrative Review Board The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the detainees held by the United States in Camp Delta at the United States Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The purpose o ...

hearings that his stay in the refugee camp established an "

enemy combatant Enemy combatant is a term for a person who, either lawfully or unlawfully, engages in hostilities for the other side in an armed conflict, used by the U.S. government and media during the War on Terror. Usually enemy combatants are members of t ...

" because they believed recruiters from the

Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin The Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (; abbreviated HIG), also referred to as Hezb-e-Islami or Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA), is an Afghan political party and paramilitary organization, originally founded in 1976 as Hezb-e-Islami and led by Gulbuddi ...

militia had tried to recruit fighters within the camp. Sharifullah testified that he had been unaware of any militant presence during his stay in the camp. During his 2005 and 2006, reviews Guantanamo captive Awal Gul faced two allegations concerned with the camp: One; that "the detainee stayed at the Shamshateau refugee camp in Pakistan where he worked closely with his commander." and two: that "The Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) headquarters and operations center was located in Shamshato, near Peshawar, Pakistan." These allegations were not present during his 2004

, and were dropped from his third annual review in 2007. According to the American

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...

think-tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

The Jamestown Foundation The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.–based non-partisan defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which i ...

'', the camp is surrounded by a two-meter tall mud-brick wall, and its 2,000 occupants are all loyal to Hekmatyar. The Pakistani newspaper ''Dawn'' also reports that the camp is a center of support for Hekmatyar. Shahabuddin Hekmatyar, the younger brother of

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (born 1 August 1949) is an Afghan politician, and former mujahideen leader and drug trafficker. He is the founder and current leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin political party, so called after Mohammad Yunus Khalis spl ...

, the leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin was arrested outside the camp on August 17, 2008.

References

Populated places in Peshawar District Refugee camps in Pakistan Afghan refugee camps Afghan diaspora in Pakistan {{Peshawar-stub