Jere Van Dyk - The Trade: Inside the Clandestine World of Political Kidnapping

This is the work of ghosts.

You are part of a gigantic picture here.

Professor Rasul Amin: From Kunar Province; studied in Pakistan; Afghan minister of education, later director of Afghanistan Studies Center, considered an independent thinker and Afghan nationalist; had many school friends who worked in the Pakistani government; maintained close ties to Pakistan; uncle of Shahwali Hazrat, authors fixer; relationship with Sameer, a prostitute. Amin died in 2009.

Sameer (pseudonym): A prostitute, hired by Professor Amin; grew up in a Pakistani refugee camp and has links to kidnappers, introducing Shahwali to them. She may have links to the ISI.

(Sami) Sharif: Authors first fixer, arranged through Peter and Hassina Jouvenal; took author into the mountains where Corporal Pat Tillman was killed; later took author to meet the Taliban south of Tora Bora; appears to have been involved in the kidnapping of British documentary filmmaker Sean Langan in March 2008.

Aziz: Sharifs driver, took the author up to Tora Bora and may have been involved in Sean Langans kidnapping.

Hajji: Azizs uncle, a drug smuggler turned car smuggler turned human smuggler; in 2007, took author into Mohmand Agency; arranged for author to meet with the Taliban near Tora Bora; in 2008, kidnapped Sean Langan in Bajaur Agency, Tribal Areas of Pakistan, when he was working for Channel 4.

Ahmed: Authors driver, brought to him by Shahwali, but who may have tried to warn and thus save author from kidnappers.

Ahmed Jan: CBS cameraman, authors driver, and friend; came with Fazul to authors release, but overcome with emotion, failed to film it.

Zalgai: Authors fixer and interpreter with Yunus Khalis.

Ehsanullah: Pashtun, longtime Afghan journalist, authors friend, source, and neutral observer.

Yunus Khalis: A famous Afghan mujahideen leader in 1980s, center of mujahideen/Taliban/al-Qaeda nexus, close to bin Laden; in authors view the father or grandfather that bin Laden never had; died in 2006. According to Khalis guards, former mujahideen, and associates, the author is the only Westerner to visit him after 9/11. Head of the Pakistani-controlled mujahideen political party, Hezb-i-Islami Khalis; the Haqqanis, Mullah Malang, Mirwais Yasini, Abdul Haq, Hajji Abdul Qadir, Hajji Din Mohammad, and Hazrat Ali were all a part of the Khalis faction in 1980s.

Hajji Abdul Qadir: Din Mohammads older brother, a prominent 1980s mujahideen commander; governor of Nangarhar province and vice president of Afghanistan, killed in 2002 in Kabul, by, apparently, Abdullah and maybe Hajji Zaman, and others, on orders of ISI.

Abdul Haq: Famous mujahideen leader in 1980s jihad against USSR; entered Afghanistan in October 2001 to rally tribes against Taliban, and killed on orders of ISI; quite possibly the man the US, or influential elements within the US government, wanted to be president after 9/11, instead of Hamid Karzai; President Ronald Reagan honored him with a White House dinner. UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher met with him in London.

Hajji Din Mohammad: Pashtun, authors oldest friend in Afghanistan, member of prominent Arsala family; chief negotiator for the Afghan government in talks (currently suspended) with the Taliban; former and current ally of US government; met with President G. H. W. Bush, and three times with President Reagan. Din Mohammad and others warned author repeatedly how dangerous it was to try to find out who was involved in his kidnapping. His brothers Abdul Haq and Hajji Qadir were both killed by Taliban, probably on orders of ISI. His son Izatullah, a poet, was killed with Abdul Haq.

Amrullah Saleh: Tajik, former head of National Directorate of Security (NDS, Afghan intelligence service), plays small but important role in explaining to author what, in his view, happened in his case, i.e., his belief that the author was kidnapped by his so-called friends, mirroring exactly what Din Mohammad, a Pashtun, said.

Mullah Malang: Arranged meeting with author and his kidnappers; famous mujahideen commander during 1980s jihad against USSR; member of parliament; said to be a former and possibly present CIA, Iranian, and ISI asset.

Mirwais Yasini: Pashtun, member of 1980s Hezb-i-Islami Khalis mujahideen political faction; today First Deputy Speaker, Lower House of Parliament; introduced Malang to author; enemy of Feridoun Mohmand, who secured authors release.

Hazrat Ali: Pashai mujahideen commander in 1980s; member of Hezb-i-Islami Khalis faction; allied with Arsala family; hired by CIA to find bin Laden at Tora Bora; said to be one of the men who killed Abdullahs cousin, Khorsheed; after the authors release, Alis father and other members of his family killed, and his son kidnapped; author believes this is related to his own kidnapping.

Hajji Abdul Zahir, commonly known as Hajji Zahir: Member of parliament, member of the Arsala family; son of Abdul Qadir, nephew to Din Mohammad; hired by the CIA (along with Hazrat Ali and Hajji Zaman) to find bin Laden at Tora Bora; said to have been involved, with Hazrat Ali, in the death of Abdullahs nephew, Khorsheed.

Khorsheed: Close relative of Abdullah; rumored to have been killed by Zahir and Hazrat Ali; as a result, Abdullah took his revenge, killing Zahirs father, Hajji Qadir, a vice president of Afghanistan, in a contract killing in Kabul in July 2002; assassination ordered by the ISI. Abdullah may have pulled the trigger, but Hajji Zaman, said to be an ISI contractor, is said to have been the lead man in the ISI assassination. Zaman is said to have been behind the authors kidnapping, in part, because of authors links to Din Mohammad and the Arsala family.