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Podcasts Take Two
How an Afghan ‘torturer in chief’ ended up in an LA suburb
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May 1, 2014
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How an Afghan ‘torturer in chief’ ended up in an LA suburb
Haji Gulalai was once one of the most feared men in Afghanistan. As the intelligence chief in Kandahar and later as the head of the intelligence service's detention and interrogation branch, he earned a reputation for brutality.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, center, shakes hands with a supporter as he leaves the Mirwaise Nikah shrine (the tomb of a Pashtun tribal leader) in Kandahar, Afghanistan on Friday, Aug. 2, 2002. On the President's right is Gul Agha, governor of Kandahar, and on the president's left is the Afghan Chief of Intelligence, Haji Gulalai.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, center, shakes hands with a supporter as he leaves the Mirwaise Nikah shrine (the tomb of a Pashtun tribal leader) in Kandahar, Afghanistan on Friday, Aug. 2, 2002. On the President's right is Gul Agha, governor of Kandahar, and on the president's left is the Afghan Chief of Intelligence, Haji Gulalai.
(
DAN DELORENZO
)

Haji Gulalai was once one of the most feared men in Afghanistan. As the intelligence chief in Kandahar and later as the head of the intelligence service's detention and interrogation branch, he earned a reputation for brutality.

Haji Gulalai was once one of the most feared men in Afghanistan. As the intelligence chief in Kandahar and later as the head of the intelligence service's detention and interrogation branch, he earned a reputation for brutality.

But despite a substantial record of human rights abuses, the Afghan spy was able to make his way to America. He's now living a quiet life here in Los Angeles. The Washington Post's Greg Miller tracked down Haji Gulalai, and he joins the show to talk about what he learned.