Mullah Shahzada is a Taliban field commander who was held in extrajudicial detention

Extrajudicial detention

Arbitrary or extrajudicial detention is the detention of individuals by a state, without ever laying formal charges against them.Although it has a long history of legitimate use in wartime , detention without charge, sometimes in secret, has been one of the hallmarks of totalitarian states...

 in Guantanamo

Guantanamo Bay detainment camp

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...

, was later released, and subsequently rejoined the Taliban

2001

A report from March 21, 2001, listed a Mullah Shahzada as a member of the Taliban delegation charged with responsibility over the destruction of statues.

2003

The New York Times reported on an interview with a "former fighter" named Mullah Shahzada, in Quetta

Quetta

is the largest city and the provincial capital of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan. Known as the "Fruit Garden of Pakistan" due to the diversity of its plant and animal wildlife, Quetta is home to the Hazarganji Chiltan National Park, which contains some of the rarest species of wildlife in the...

, Pakistan.
"It is too difficult studying in Afghanistan, because all the time people demand, `Who are you and what are you doing?' " said Mullah Shahzada, a religious teacher and former fighter from the southern province of Helmand.

The New York Times article does not say that Shahzada was a member of the Taliban.

2004

The New York Times reported:

"New accounts from officials in Afghanistan and the United States indicate that at least 5 of the 57 Afghan detainees released have returned to the battlefield as Taliban commanders or fighters. Some of the five have been involved in new attacks on Americans, officials in southern Afghanistan said, including a notorious Taliban commander, Mullah Shahzada, who was reportedly killed in a recent accident."

2005

Oliver North

Oliver North

Oliver Laurence North is a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer, political commentator, host of War Stories with Oliver North on Fox News Channel, a military historian, and a New York Times best-selling author....

 claimed that Mullah Shahzada was one of the three youngest children at Guantanamo, who were given more humane treatment, including schooling, at Camp Iguana

Camp Iguana

Camp Iguana is a small compound in the detainment camp complex on the US Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Camp Iguana originally held three child detainees who camp spokesmen then claimed were the only detainees under age 16. It was closed in the winter of 2004 when the three were sent home...

, apparently unaware that "mullah" is an honorific, meaning "educated man".
The identity of the three children had already been published, Naqibullah, Asadullah Abdul Rahman

Asadullah Abdul Rahman

Asad Ullah is a young Afghani formally held at Camp Iguana in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Ullah and his friends and supporters claim that he was twelve years old when he was arrested by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. The military, however, believe him to have been around fifteen years old. Asad was...

, and Muhammad Ismail Agha

Muhammad Ismail Agha

Muhammad Ismail Agha is an Afghan national who at age 13 was arrested by Afghan militia soldiers, who transferred him to U.S. forces in December 2002....

.
North claimed Mullah Shahzada swore to abstain form violence, but was killed in a firefight weeks after his release.

The People's Daily

People's Daily

The People's Daily is a daily newspaper in the People's Republic of China. The paper is an organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China , published worldwide with a circulation of 3 to 4 million. In addition to its main Chinese-language edition, it has editions in English,...

 reports that a Mullah Shahzada was injured during a firefight in October 2005.

2006

The US Department of Defense was forced, by court order

Court order

A court order is an official proclamation by a judge that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out of certain steps by one or more parties to a case...

, to release the names of the captives taken in the "war on terror" who were held in Guantanamo.
On 2006 April 20 they released a list of 558 names, nationalities and Guantanamo Bay detention camp ID numbers, of all the captives whose status as "enemy combatants" had been reviewed by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

Twenty-five days later they released a much longer list of 759 names, nationalities, Guantanamo Bay detention camp ID numbers, dates of birth, and places of birth, of all captives who had been held in military custody in Guantanamo.

There is no one named "Mullah Shahzada" on either the list released on April 20, 2006, or the list released on May 15, 2006.

Official acknowledgement

On May 14, 2007 Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

 officials testified before the United States Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 that thirty former Guantanamo captives had returned to the battlefield following their release.

• They linked Mohamed Yusif Yaqub to the name Mullah Shahzada.
• They asserted that he was released on May 8, 2003.
• They asserted "...he assumed control of Taliban operations in Southern Afghanistan."
• They asserted that he was killed on May 7, 2004.

On June 13, 2008 the Defense Intelligence Agency

Defense Intelligence Agency

The Defense Intelligence Agency is a member of the Intelligence Community of the United States, and is the central producer and manager of military intelligence for the United States Department of Defense, employing over 16,500 U.S. military and civilian employees worldwide...

 asserted Yousef Muhammed Yaaqoub, also known as Mullah Shazada, had "returned to terrorism".
The DIA reported:

Yousef Muhammed Yaaqoub, better known as Mullah Shazada, was released from GTMO in May 2003. Shazada quickly rejoined the Taliban as a commander in southern Afghanistan. In this role, his activities reportedly included the organization and execution of a jailbreak in Kandahar, and a nearly successful capture of the border town of Spin Boldak Spin Boldak Spin Boldak or Spin Buldak is a border town in the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, right next to the Durand Line border with Pakistan. It is linked by a highway with the city of Kandahar to the north, and with Chaman and Quetta in Pakistan to the south. Spin Boldak has the second major... . Shazada was killed on 7 May 2004 fighting U.S. forces. His memorial in Quetta, Pakistan, drew many Taliban leaders wanted by U.S. forces. At the time of his release, there was no indication he was a member of any terrorist organization or posed a risk to U.S. or Allied interests.