Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Abdul Salam (Taliban leader, Kabul front, 2001)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   keep. \ Backslash Forwardslash / (talk) 23:27, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

Abdul Salam (Taliban leader, Kabul front, 2001)

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I searched for addition sources to verify the information in the article. The current sourcing for this article is one primary source. (I could not retrieve it for some reason, but will assume that the article accurately relates what the document says.) I found zero reliable secondary sources that discuss this person in passing or in depth. According to the notability guideline for people the basic criteria is that a person is presumed to be notable if he has been the subject of published secondary source material which is reliable, intellectually independent, and independent of the subject. We do not have that in this article. All we have is a single primary source that mentions this common name in passing. Again from the notability guideline for people the basic criteria goes on to say, primary sources may be used to support content in an article, but they do not contribute toward proving the notability of a subject. At this point we have nothing to establish notability according to wikipedia guidelines. A new name 2008 (talk) 16:10, 15 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Keep, but rename, The New York Times never wrote a "secondary source" article sufficient to support a biography on a Viet Cong commander, but if primary sources were sufficient to write one...I think it would be well-earned to stay on WP. Although the current name for this article is burdensome, it should be changed. Sherurcij (speaker for the dead) 16:17, 15 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Comment, I question how well the nominator actually searched for possible hits on the Taliban leader's name, since a simple google search for "Abdul-Salaam + Taliban" turns up "The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, William Wood, on January 13 met with Mullah Abdul Salaam, the former Taliban commander who recently defected", ". Other Taliban leaders have since plotted to assassinate Mullah Salaam. "Mullah Abdul Salaam is very influential"", and "the government side of Mullah Abdul Salaam, a key Taliban commander"; from the Times, Telegraph and many other notable news sites. Sherurcij (speaker for the dead) 16:21, 15 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I searched and could not identify for certain that any of the hits that came up were this person. That is the problem with this article. The information is not verifiable except for one primary source.  There is no way to take that one primary source and produce an article that complies with the notability guidelines because the name is so common.  --A new name 2008 (talk) 16:29, 15 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Abdul Salaam, the ex-Taliban commander in Kabul who defected to American forces is absolutely notable, and the subject of many news stories. You can argue that you think there are two notable "Abdul Salaam, Taliban commanders in Kabul", but I think you're straining credibility. Sherurcij (speaker for the dead) 17:29, 15 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Keep adding the references above, and stating the possible ambiguity.    DGG ( talk ) 05:46, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.