# Qala-i-Jangi uprising

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Qala-i-Jangi uprising," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/qala-i-jangi-uprising/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The late-November 2001 prisoner uprising at a fortress in northern Afghanistan during which CIA officer Mike Spann was killed; the event during which the American al-Qaeda figure John Walker Lindh was captured; among the first major firefights of the post-9/11 Afghan campaign.*

- **Date:** Approximately November 25, 2001
- **Location:** Qala-i-Jangi fortress, northern Afghanistan
- **Notable CIA fatality:** [Mike Spann](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mike-spann), first American killed in combat in Afghanistan post-9/11
- **Notable captive:** [John Walker Lindh](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-walker-lindh), the American Taliban

The **Qala-i-Jangi uprising** was a prisoner revolt at the Qala-i-Jangi fortress in northern Afghanistan in late November 2001, during which Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners, who had been captured by the Northern Alliance, overwhelmed their CIA and military interrogators. [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) officer [Mike Spann](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mike-spann) was killed in the uprising, becoming the first American killed in combat in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks. The American al-Qaeda figure [John Walker Lindh](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-walker-lindh) had just been captured at the same site and was present at the start of the uprising.[1][2][3]

## Why the date mattered to a Senate investigation

When Kiriakou tried to establish whether CIA officers had been present at the loading of the containers at [Dasht-i-Leili](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/dasht-i-leili-massacre), the uprising gave him his one certainty about American presence. *"I know CIA officers were present 20 miles away, because the box-up was the same day as the uprising at Qala-i-Jangi."*[4]

What he could not establish was the twenty miles in between, whether the two English-speaking men in blue jeans described by a witness at the container site were agency officers.[5][4]

## See also

- [Mike Spann](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mike-spann)
- [John Walker Lindh](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-walker-lindh)
- [Dasht-i-Leili massacre](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/dasht-i-leili-massacre)

## Sources

1. Mossad, Terrifying CIA Technology, Blackwater & The Most Secret CIA Unit (2025-08-31), at 3:36:36. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3FxH39oYsA&t=12996s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-31-dalton-fischer-mossad-blackwater/
2. Mossad, Terrifying CIA Technology, Blackwater & The Most Secret CIA Unit (2025-08-31), at 3:37:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3FxH39oYsA&t=13029s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-31-dalton-fischer-mossad-blackwater/
3. Mossad, Terrifying CIA Technology, Blackwater & The Most Secret CIA Unit (2025-08-31), at 3:38:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3FxH39oYsA&t=13089s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-31-dalton-fischer-mossad-blackwater/
4. Why I Was Targeted (RAI pt 9, probe dup) (2023-04-25), at 20:07. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh7Ujo6BsEs&t=1207s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-04-25-real-news-reality-asserts-itself-why-i-was-targeted-rai-pt-9-probe-dup/
5. Why I Was Targeted (RAI pt 9, probe dup) (2023-04-25), at 17:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh7Ujo6BsEs&t=1060s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-04-25-real-news-reality-asserts-itself-why-i-was-targeted-rai-pt-9-probe-dup/

---

From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/qala-i-jangi-uprising/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt