What Do We Know About Abdul Rasul Sayyaf?

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the United States and Saudi Arabia mounted a huge effort to expel the communist forces. They funneled billions of dollars into the hands of Afghan guerrillas known as the Mujahadeen. These were Islamic revolutionaries and the consequence of this reverberates to this day.

Abdul Rasul Sayyaf is one of Afghanistan's most powerful warlords and religious leaders. He was educated in Egypt where he became a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. He was financed heavily by Wahabi Saudi's during the war and worked closely with Osama bin Laden. He established a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Afghanistan and an education camp called Dawa'a al-Jihad, which Ramzi Yousef, the Kuwaiti behind the 1993 World Trade Center truck bombing, attended.

This relationship with Yousef goes over to the Philippines where the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group is named after him. Terry Nichols, Timothy McVeigh's partner in the Oklahoma City bombing, is suspected of learning bomb-making from this group on his many visits to the Philippines.

After the Soviets withdrew, Sayyaf battled other warlords for control of Kabul, destroying the city and killing tens of thousands of civilians. Sayyaf's militia committed numerous atrocities and the fighting allowed the Taliban to rise to power.

Sayyaf is believed to have helped set-up the assassination of Ahmed Shah Massoud in 2001. Massoud was the military leader of the Northern Alliance killed two days before 9/11.

According to the 9/11 Commission, Sayyaf was a mentor to Khalid Sheik Mohamed, the Kuwaiti who was the mastermind behind the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Where is Sayyaf today? No, not at Guantanamo Bay or in American custody. He is a powerful member of the Afghanistan legislature, his men are in powerful positions of government, and he has tremendous influence with President Karzai.

As Afghanistan reverts to Sayyaf's religious fanaticism, some want to hold him accountable for past war crimes. Instead, Sayyaf holds demonstrations calling for amnesty for himself and other Mujahadeen leaders. Is there anything else we should know about Abdul Rasul Sayyaf?