Ziauddin is a citizen of Afghanistan, who helped lead the ouster of the Taliban. Ziauddin is a member of the Tajik ethnic group. Ziauddin was rewarded with command of some of the Afghan Transitional Authority's security forces in Paktia Province in 2002, only to fall afoul of US occupiers dur to feuding with other pro-US militia leaders.
Human Rights Watch reports that Ziauddin was once allied with the Taliban.
Human Rights Watch reported, in July 2003:
"In Gardez, Human Rights Watch received credible information about one local commander, Ziauddin, extorting local businesses—demanding vehicles or large sums of money under threat of arrests or beatings."
In March 2002 Ziauddin and Abdullah Mujahid played a role in containing a large force of Taliban who were reported to have been hiding in a large cave complex.
In September 2002 Ziauddin was authorized to attack the forces of Pacha Khan Zadran, the leader of a rival militia, who was no longer subordinating his authority to that of the central government. On September 30, 2002 Ziauddin reported his troops, supported by heavy artillery, had taken Sayed Karam where Pack Khan Zadran had his headquarters.
Ziauddin went into hiding when his lifelong friend, colleague and fellow anti-Taliban leader, Abdullah Mujahid was denounced and sent to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba, in July 2003.
Ziauddin and Mujahid are members of Afghanistan's Tajik ethnic minority. Pacha Khan Zadran, their main rival, a fellow anti-Taliban leader who had been rewarded with a security appointment in Paktia, is a member of the majority group, the Pashtun.
Ziauddin himself was apprehended, and spent a year in the Bagram Theater detention facility.
Staff Sergeant Clint Douglas, formerly stationed in Gardez, described Ziauddin as an ally and a "thug". He claimed Ziauddin was responsible for rocket attacks on the American base in Gardez.
Douglas described Ziauddin as a Pashtun.
On January 16, 2010, the Department of Defense was forced to publish the names of the 645 captives held in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility. One of the individuals on the list was named Ziauddin.