John Walker Lindh

John Walker Lindh

John Phillip Walker Lindh (born February 9, 1981) is a United States citizen who was captured as an enemy combatant during the United States' 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. He is now serving a 20-year prison sentence in connection with his participation in Afghanistan's Taliban army. He was captured during the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi, a violent Taliban prison uprising during which Central Intelligence Agency officer Johnny "Mike" Spann was killed.

Lindh received training at Al-Farouq, a training camp in Afghanistan associated with Al-Qaeda. There, he attended a lecture by Osama bin Laden and is said to have found him "unimpressive". He was not aware of the planned September 11, 2001 attacks. After the attacks occurred, he continued to stay and fight even after he knew the US was now allied with the Northern Alliance. Lindh had previously received training with Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, an internationally designated terrorist organization based in Pakistan.

Lindh went by the name Sulayman al-Faris during his time in Afghanistan, but prefers the name Abu Sulayman al-Irlandi today. In early reports following his capture, he was usually referred to by the news media as just "John Walker".