Mullah Abdul Rauf, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who was released in 2007 and eventually returned to the battlefield, was killed by a U.S. military drone on Monday, according to news reports.
CNN reports that Rauf, who had been working as a recruiter for the Islamic State (ISIS),
was among six militants killed in the strike.
Four of the six were Pakistani militants, according to CNN.
Rauf was reportedly a Taliban commander when he was captured after the U.S. military invaded Afghanistan in 2001. He was transferred to Guantanamo Bay and claimed to be a low-level Taliban soldier, when in reality he had served as a commander when the terror group controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
The military recommended that Rauf be released as early as 2004,
according to a leaked document. He was eventually placed into the Afghan government's control in 2007 before escaping from its grip and teaming up with ISIS.
"Despite his claims of being a low-level Taliban foot soldier and food supplier, detainee managed to become closely associated with several senior level Taliban commanders and leaders," according to the leaked 2004 document.
Rauf admitted to being actively involved in the production and sales of opium in Afghanistan. He was initially rated with an intelligence value of "low," but he was upgraded to "medium" after the military further interrogated him.
"Detainee is associated with several Taliban commanders and leaders in Afghanistan," reads the leaked document, which recommended Rauf "be transferred to the control of another country for continued detention."
Sometime after his 2007 release, Rauf became a "shadow governor" for the Taliban in southern Afghanistan before switching his allegiance to ISIS and working as a recruiter.
The U.S. has been emptying Guantanamo Bay of detainees in recent years as President Barack Obama presses on with
his controversial pledge to close the detention camp in Cuba.
During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week,
freshman Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said terrorists can "rot in hell."
"In my opinion, the only problem with Guantanamo Bay is there are too many empty beds and cells there right now," Cotton said. "We should be sending more terrorists there. As far as I’m concerned, every last one of them can rot in hell.
"But as long as they can't do that, they can rot in Guantanamo Bay."
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