In March 2002 Ziauddin and Abdullah Mujahid played a role in containing a large force of Taliban who were reported to have been hiding in a large cave complex.[4]
In September 2002 Ziauddin was authorized to attack the forces of Pacha Khan Zadran, the leader of a rival militia, who was no longer recognizing the central government.[5] On September 30, 2002 Ziauddin reported his troops, supported by heavy artillery, had taken Sayed Karam where Pack Khan Zadran had his headquarters.
Ziauddin went into hiding when his lifelong friend, colleague and fellow anti-Taliban leader, Abdullah Mujahid was denounced and sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba, in July 2003.[1] Ziauddin and Mujahid are members of Afghanistan's Tajik ethnic group.[1] Pacha Khan Zadran, their main rival, a fellow anti-Taliban leader who had been given a security appointment in Paktia, is a member of the majority group, the Pashtun.
Ziauddin was apprehended, and spent a year in the Bagram Theater detention facility.[1] Staff Sergeant Clint Douglas, formerly stationed in Gardez, described Ziauddin as both an ally and a "thug".[6] He claimed Ziauddin was responsible for rocket attacks on the American base in Gardez. Douglas described Ziauddin as a Pashtun.[6] On January 16, 2010, the Department of Defense was forced to publish the names of the 645 captives held in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility,[7] which included an individual named Ziauddin.