Haji Asadullah Khalid was born in the Ghazni Province of Afghanistan on 10 June 1970 into a Taraki GhilzaiPashtun family.[2] His father served as an MP during the reign of the king Zaher Shah while in later days his uncle became a known Ittihad-i Islami commander. Asadullah Khalid himself became affiliated with the Ittihad party and its leader Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf.[2]
During the rule of the Taliban (1996-2001),Khalid served with the anti-Taliban resistance as part of the Ittihad faction. The Afghanistan Analyst Network writes that Khalid may have recovered "Stinger missiles on behalf of Ittihad’s boss,Sayyaf",which may have brought him into first direct contacts with the CIA.[2] Khalid's personal account of that time is that he studied law in Tajikistan.[2]
After the fall of the Taliban regime,Khalid worked with the National Directorate of Security,Department 5,but shortly afterwards became Governor of his home Ghazni province,a post he held until 2005. After a re-shuffle in 2005 by PresidentHamid Karzai,Khalid was shifted from Ghazni province to become the new governor of Kandahar province. As governor,he said that he believed in the coordination of international and national efforts in bringing stability to Afghanistan.[3]
In early 2007,Asadullah Khalid escaped an assassination attempt. He was targeted by a Taliban suicide bomber. His motorcade was destroyed but he survived with only minor injuries.[4]
Mr. Khalid was appointed as Minister of Borders,ethnics and tribal Affairs in 2008. In 2011,besides being in-charge of the Ministry,he was appointed as special representative of the President to Loy Kandahar provinces (i.e. Kandahar,Helmand,Zabul,and Urozgan). As a trusted envoy of the president ( Hamid Karzai ) and security expert,he brought stability and peace to South Western provinces in short while.
To eradicate Taliban and confront them in the gross-roots he implemented many concepts,beside his other attempts he created and supported the anti-Taliban uprisings in insurgent-held areas of eastern Afghanistan,and often accused the Pakistani intelligence services of fomenting the insurgency.[5]
A few months later,on 6 December 2012,Khalid became injured during a failed Taliban assassination attempt in Kabul. The incident happened in the Taymeni area of the city,inside one of the many guesthouses that NDS uses in Kabul to reduce the risk of an attack. Afghan officials said that Khalid needed blood transfusions,[6] but President Hamid Karzai said Khalid "is doing well" and described the attack as "a cowardly act of terrorism".[6]Zabiullah Mujahid confirmed that the Taliban were behind the attack.[7] Politicians in Afghanistan,including the President and members of the Parliament,accused elements in Pakistan of organizing Khalid's assassination attempt.[8]
In June 2013,Khalid returned to US for further medical treatment after his conditions deteriorated for wounds from the Taliban assassination attempted in December 2012.[9] Rahmatullah Nabil resumed the role as acting Director of the NDS from 31 August 2013 whilst Khalid was recovering. Nabil was officially reappointed as Director on 28 January 2015.[10]
Asadullah Khalid remains under treatment today and has been unable to perform his duties as minister. Former President Ashraf Ghani has also explained his absence as the reason for the fall of Kabul.[11]
Human right violations
Asadullah Khalid has been accused of being involved in numerous human right violations.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18] In 2009,Richard Colvin,a former Canadian deputy ambassador to Afghanistan who worked closely with Khalid,testified before the Canadian parliament that Khalid was directly involved in torture. He said that Khalid was controlling a criminal gang and he had people killed who got in his way.[12][13][15]
In April 2010,CBC News revealed the existence of top-level Canadian government documents reporting the personal involvement of Khalid in serious human rights abuses in his own private dungeon. Multiple sources report that the private detention centre was located under Khalid's guest house while he was the governor of Kandahar. The documents also showed that Christopher Alexander,a Canadian official working with the United Nations,alleged that Asadullah Khalid had ordered the killing of five United Nations workers by bombing,presumably to protect his narcotics interests.[14][17][18]
Graeme Smith from The Globe and Mail conducted an investigation on Brigade 888 (a unit under the direct command of Khalid) and found that Khalid's governor palace contained private detention centres. Graeme Smith further said that the Canadian Generals knew about the brutal technique employed to torture the detainees in those cells. A source from Afghanistan said that the palace hired a labourer every few weeks to apply fresh paint to the interrogation room. This was done to conceal blood on the walls. The source also reported the presence of other informal cells in the city which are operated by Khalid.[19]
Khalid was also accused being involved in act of sexual violence against the women and the girls. Human Right Watch stated that there is a 'strong evidence' which suggests that Khalid was involved in act of sexual violence against women and girls,when he was governor of Ghazni and Kandahar. Khalid allegedly threatened the victims with consequences if they told anyone about what happened.[18][17]
Drug smuggling
Asadullah Khalid was also accused of being involved in drug trafficking.[13][15] Kabul Press in 2009,while citing several sources from the Afghan presidential palace,described Khalid as "the most crucial member of a narcotics producing and smuggling syndicate".[12][20] Ambassador Wahid Monawar,during his tenure as Afghanistan's permanent representative to the United Nations in Vienna in 2007,said that Khalid had no plan to eradicate opium from the province and neither was he interested to follow the existing plan.[12]
Hamid Karzai is an Afghan politician who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014,including as the first elected president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from December 2004 to September 2014. He previously served as Chairman of the Afghan Interim Administration from December 2001 to July 2002. He is the chief (khān) of the Popalzai Durrani tribe of Pashtuns in Kandahar Province.
Ahmed Wali Karzai was a politician in Afghanistan who served as Chairman of the Kandahar Provincial Council from 2005 until his death. He was the younger paternal half-brother of former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and an elder of the Popalzai tribe. Wali Karzai formerly lived in the United States,where he managed a restaurant owned by his family. He returned to Afghanistan following the removal of the Taliban government in late 2001. He has been accused of political corruption and was allegedly on the CIA payroll. He was assassinated by one of his close bodyguards,Sardar Mohammad,on 12 July 2011.
Kandahār is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan,located in the southern part of the country,sharing a border with Pakistan,to the south. It is surrounded by Helmand in the west,Uruzgan in the north and Zabul Province in the east. Its capital is the city of Kandahar,Afghanistan's second largest city,which is located on the Arghandab River. The greater region surrounding the province is called Loy Kandahar. The Emir of Afghanistan sends orders to Kabul from Kandahar making it the de facto capital of Afghanistan,although the main government body operates in Kabul. All meetings with the Emir take place in Kandahar,meetings excluding the Emir are in Kabul.
The National Directorate of Security was the national intelligence and security service of Afghanistan. The headquarters of the NDS was in Kabul,and it had field offices and training facilities in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. The NDS was part of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).
The following lists events that happened during 2002 in Afghanistan.
The following lists events that happened during 2004 in Afghanistan.
Mohammad Yousef Pashtun is an Afghan technocrat and politician. He served as Minister of Urban Development and Housing for two terms and as Governor of Kandahar province in 2003,replacing Gul Agha Sherzai under President Hamid Karzai's administration. In 2010,he was appointed as Senior Adviser to President Karzai on Construction,Mines,Water &Energy. In 2014,minister Pashtun continued to serve as Senior Adviser to President Ashraf Ghani. Yِousef Pashtun is also chairing the Kabul New City Development Authority Board.
Abdullah Abdullah is an Afghan politician who led the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR) from May 2020 until August 2021,when the Afghan government was overthrown by the Taliban. The council had been established to facilitate peace talks between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban insurgents. Abdullah served as the Chief Executive of Afghanistan from September 2014 to March 2020,and as Minister of Foreign Affairs from December 2001 to April 2005. Prior to that,he was a senior member of the Northern Alliance,working as an adviser to Ahmad Shah Massoud. He worked as an ophthalmologist and medical doctor in the 1980s.
Mohammed Masoom Stanekzai is a former Minister,Chief Peace Negotiator,and chief of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
Abdullah Laghmani was Deputy Chief of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in Afghanistan,and a prominent ally of President Hamid Karzai. He first served as an intelligence officer for the Northern Alliance during Taliban rule. After the formation of Karzai administration in late 2001,Laghmani served as the intelligence chief of Kandahar province before moving up as deputy chief. Laghmani was killed in a Taliban suicide bomb attack in Mehtar Lam,Laghman Province.
Amrullah Saleh is an Afghan politician who served as the first vice president of Afghanistan from February 2020 to August 2021,and acting interior minister from 2018 to 2019. He was the head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) from 2004 to 2010.
Hamid Karzai,the 12th President of Afghanistan,was subject to several failed assassination attempts after becoming leader of Afghanistan on 20 December 2001.
Events from the year 2010 in Afghanistan.
Events from the year 2011 in Afghanistan.
2003 in Afghanistan. A list of notable incidents in Afghanistan during 2003
Events from the year 2012 in Afghanistan.
Presidential elections were held in Afghanistan on 5 April 2014,with a second round held on 14 June. Incumbent President Hamid Karzai was not eligible to run due to term limits. The registration period for presidential nominations was open from 16 September 2013 until 6 October 2013. A total of 27 candidates were confirmed to be running for office. However,on 22 October Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission disqualified 16 of the candidates,leaving only 11 in the race. By April 2014 three candidates gave up the race and decided to support some of the eight remaining candidates. Opinion polls showed Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani as the front-runners and indeed the results of the first round of the election had Abdullah in the lead and Ghani behind him. The second set of results came after the run-off on 14 June,two months after the first round. Preliminary results were expected on 2 July and the final result on 22 July. However,widespread accusations of fraud delayed these results. As a result,John Kerry,then United States Secretary of State,mediated the negotiations between the two final candidates,Ghani and Abdullah. After a series of negotiations and talks between Ghani,Abdullah and Kerry,the two candidates agreed to sign an Agreement to form a National Unity Government based on 50–50 power sharing. As a result of that political agreement,a separate position was created for Abdullah as Chief Executive. The National Unity Government's term ran out after the next Afghan presidential election was held in September 2019.
The following lists events from 2014 in Afghanistan.
The Ghazni offensive began on 10 August 2018,when Taliban fighters launched an assault on the city of Ghazni,Afghanistan's sixth largest city and one which has been culturally and strategically important for much of the country's history. The attack resulted in the deaths of hundreds of insurgents,soldiers,police,and civilians. The city also sustained large-scale property damage. The battle,occurring only weeks before Afghanistan's 2018 parliamentary election,was the largest since a three-day truce in June had raised hopes of peace talks.
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