Talk:Abdul Karim (Guantanamo detainee)

DEFAULTSORT & listas parameter
The DEFAULTSORT value on the article page and the listas parameter on this page were set after a consultation with a member of the WikiProject Afghanistan in accordance with this article from the New York Times where he is referred to as "Mr. Karim". The NYT is a WP:reliable source.
 * JimCubb (talk) 22:48, 29 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Before the NYTimes put up its Guantanamo dockets (about 20,000 pages it must have been a monumental effort) the Washington Post put up a list of the names of known captives -- back about 2005. Like the DoD they made the mistake of shoehorning all the names into the European surname system.  Are you suggesting that WP:NOR requires us to repeat obvious mistakes?  Geo Swan (talk) 00:37, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

Here is what I was told by an Afghani from the WikiProject Afghanistan -- "Naming conventions will differ among the different ethnic groups in Afghanistan. A large portion of those who would have fought for the Taliban would have been those who belonged to the Pashtun ethnic group. In most cases, the first name is the given name and the last name will be a tribal name, such as Popalzai. This individual's last name does not strike me as a tribal name, and he may be following a non-Pashtun method of naming. This article from the New York Times refers to him as Mr. Karim, and the NYT being a WP:reliable source, might be the best thing to follow." As I have not seen any more reliable source, and I have seen nothing from you that cites a reliable source, I believe that in this instance, at least, the sort values are correct.
 * JimCubb (talk) 19:33, 30 May 2009 (UTC)