Ahmed Khadr - Return To Pakistan

Return To Pakistan

In the autumn of 1993, Khadr returned to Pakistan with his family, renting a comfortable house with its own garden in Hayatabad while he continued working with HCI despite his injuries. Without the use of his right hand and walking with a limp, Khadr found his injuries a frustrating dehabilitation.

Khadr loved rabbits, generally raised as game in Pakistan, and had brought a pair home as pets for his children, although Pistachio and Bandit quickly had offspring and Ahmed would frequently spend time in the backyard feeding and playing with the small animals. Before leaving for Tajikstan in 1994, a young Ibn Al-Khattab gave Abdulkareem a rabbit of his own, which was promptly named Khattab. The rabbit's legs were injured during rough play with his youngest daughter Maryam, and the crippled Ahmed would often sit in the backyard, crying over it.

Human Concern International had struggled with the year-long absence of Khadr's management, and had hired Abdullah Almalki from Carleton University to replace him. Almalki was on sabbatical leave at the time of Khadr's return. The two managers clashed, as Khadr's work ethic had changed after his injury. He had become a demanding workaholic who began alienating his colleagues, and Almalki left his placement with HCI early, citing frustration with Khadr. Khadr's eldest son, Abdullah later confided in his father that he was not spending enough time with his family, due to his time and efforts towards the local orphanages, leading Khadr to respond "You're living okay. You have your father, you have your mother" and adding that he would serve as the parental figure for orphans, angering his son.

Maintaining his connections with regional warlords, Khadr was furious at their in-fighting which he felt was invalidating the Mujahideen success in driving out the Soviets. Believing in the need for an Islamic government, he would instill his children with a belief in the nobility and rewards of martyrdom, talking about his personal concept of Jannah involving waterfalls and rare white elephants, and laughing that Canada should become an Islamic country because the CN Tower already resembled a minaret.

In 1994, he sent his two oldest sons, Abdullah and Abdurahman to Khalden training camp. He visited the camp only once himself after his sons were enrolled, to meet with Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi.

At an undefined point after his return to Pakistan, he renovated an abandoned building that had previously used by the KhAD secret police to be used for his charity, but once it was refurbished, the government announced they would re-take control of the building. An angry Khadr wrote a letter to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, complaining that he had rebuilt the structure and should at least be compensated for the money he spent in fixing it. He clashed with the Taliban again when they objected to the fact he had opened a school for girls, who were not allowed to receive an education under Taliban law.

When Mohamad Elzahabi was injured in a 1995 battle in Kabul, Khadr visited him the Peshawar hospital.