Taj Mohammad Wardak is an Afghan politician, from the Pashtun ethnic group. He spent some of the period of the Taliban's administration in the United States of America, and became an American citizen. [1]
In the mid-1960s Wardak held the position of Deputy Governor of Badakhshan Province [2] In the 1970s he served as Governor of Badakhshan Province and Governor of Laghman Province.
Wardak was appointed Governor of Paktia province in Afghanistan in the winter of 2002. [3] He served for only a few months due to opposition from local warlord Pacha Khan Zadran. [4]
According to Guantanamo captive Hafizullah Shabaz Khail, in testimony before his Combatant Status Review Tribunal Taj Mohammed [ sic ] Wardak was the first governor Hamid Karzai appointed for the Province of Paktia. [5] Khail said he was appointed the District Chief of Zormat because the new governor, Taj Mohammed, trusted him. He said Taj Mohammed Wardak was replaced, as governor, by Raz Mohammed Dalili when Hamid Karzai asked him to assume a position in Kabul.
According to the BBC the "relatively unknown" Wardak was appointed Interior Minister on Wednesday, June 19, 2002. [6]
According to Islam Online Wardak's appointment raised controversy within the Ministry. [7] They quote unnamed Ministry officials, and sentry Mohammad Halim:
Wardak was one of several cabinet ministers Karzai appointed to a high level commission to investigate the assassination of Abdul Qadir, Vice President, and also one of Karzai's leading rivals. [8] Qadir, like Wardak, was a Pashtun. Analysts said Karzai picked cabinet ministers from each of Afghanistan's ethnic groups, so each group would realize he was taking the investigation seriously. The commission included Vice President Mohammad Karim Khalili, Intelligence Services Director Mohammad Arif Sarwari, Rural Development Minister Mohammad Hanif Atma, and former Interim Irrigation Minister Hajji Mangal Hussain.
Wardak and Karzai differed in their interpretation of the deaths of students shot during a demonstration. [9] Karzai called the first student known to have died a "martyr". Wardak said that student was shot by other students.
Wardak was replaced on January 28, 2003, by Ali Ahmad Jalali. [10] [11]
An article published on the web-site of The Jamestown Foundation on June 23, 2004 described Wardak as a "presidential aide". [12]
Wardak was one of the running mates for presidential candidate Mohammad Yunos Qanuni. [13]
Taj Mohammad Wardak is listed as the head of the National Independence Party of Afghanistan on the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ministry of Justice web-page that lists the licensed political parties. [14] [15]
Gardez is the capital of the Paktia Province of Afghanistan. The population of the city was estimated to be ca. 10,000 in the 1979 census and was estimated to be 70,000 in 2008. The majority of the city's native population is Tajik. But recently, with the migration of Pashtun tribes from different parts of Paktia to this city, Pashtuns have taken over the majority of the population of this city. The city of Gardez is located at the junction between two important roads that cut through a huge alpine valley. Surrounded by the mountains and deserts of the Hindu Kush, which boil up from the valley floor to the north, east and west, it is the axis of commerce for a huge area of eastern Afghanistan and has been a strategic location for armies throughout the country's long history of conflict. Observation posts built by Alexander the Great are still crumbling on the hilltops just outside the city limits. The city of Gardez has a population of 70,641. It has 13 districts and a total land area of 6,174 hectares (23.84 sq mi). The total number of dwellings in this city is 7,849.
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Paktia is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the east of the country. Forming part of the larger Loya Paktia region, Paktia Province is divided into 15 districts and has a population of roughly 623,000, which is mostly a tribal society living in rural areas. Pashtuns make up the majority of the population and a small percentage include Tajiks Gardez is the provincial capital. The traditional food in Paktia is known as (dandakai) which is made from rice and mung bean or green gram.
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Raz Mohammed Dalili was the former governor of Paktia Province in Afghanistan from 2002 until 2004. His arrival as governor in the capital Gardez was delayed as local militia leader, and previous governor, Pacha Khan Zadran refused to let him into the city of Dalili eventually successfully served for two years. He is an ethnic Pashtun.
Pacha Khan Zadran is a militia leader and a politician in the southeast of Afghanistan. He was an ex anti-Soviet-fighter militia leader who played a role in driving the Taliban from Paktia Province in the 2001 invasion, with American backing, and he subsequently assumed the governorship of the province. In 2002, he engaged in a violent conflict with rival tribal leaders in the province over the Governorship of the province, shelling Gardez City and obstructing two separate appointed governors sent by Hamid Karzai.
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