Abdul Rasul Sayyaf

Abdul Rasul Sayyaf is an Afghan warlord, who headed the seventh of the Afghan political parties with which Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence worked, Islamic Union (Ittihad-e-Islami). Educated at al-Azhar University and an excellent speaker of Arabic, his beliefs were in Wahhabism, and he had been active in the Ikwan-i-Musalamin in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. and he was effectively the representiative of Saudi interests; Prince Turki al-Faisal insisted on his recognition by ISI.

Background
He was born at Paghman, a town immediately west of Kabul. A member of the Kharruti tribe, as were Hafizullah Amin and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar

The Afghan Daud and Taraki-Amin governments imprisoned him until 1979. he was released in 1979. .

Peshawar Seven
His arrival in Peshawar was delayed until 1980 by imprisonment since the mid-1970s under the Daud and Taraki-Amin regimes.

Sayyaf arrived in Pakistan when foreign supporters were pressuring the parties to unite. He was elected to head a front of all the parties, the Ittehad-i-Islami B'rai Azadi-i-Afghanistan (Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan). The front quickly broke up and Sayyaf retained the name for his own party. With excellent Arab connections, Sayyaf has been generously funded, but has had no substantial base of support inside Afghanistan.

Operational role
Wahhabism clashes with the law and practice of the Hanafi system accepted by most Afghan Sunnis, and of the Sufi tradition of other Afghans. More than any of the other party leaders, Sayyaf recruited mujahidin through weapons and funds.