Asadullah Khalid - Biography

Biography

Asadullah Khalid was born in the Ghazni Province of Afghanistan in 1969 into a Taraki Ghilzai Pashtun family. 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 Rasul Sayyaf.

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. Khalid's personal account of that time is that he studied law in Tajikistan.

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 President Hamid 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.

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.

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 governor of Kandahar. Documents also said that Christopher Alexander, a top 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.

In October 2011 Khalid survived another attempt on his life. A year later, in September 2012, the National Assembly of Afghanistan approved him as head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), which is the Afghan intelligence service. It is very similar to that of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from which it receives training and support.

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, but President Hamid Karzai said Khalid "is doing well" and described the attack as "a cowardly act of terrorism". The attacker posed as a "peace messenger" arrived from Quetta, Pakistan, and was used by the Taliban's Quetta Shura, which is guided by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The death of Burhanuddin Rabbani in Kabul occurred the same exact way and that attack was tied to Taliban's Quetta Shura. Zabiullah Mujahid, who is based in Pakistan, confirmed that the Taliban were behind the attack. Politicians in Afghanistan, including the President and members of the Parliament, accused elements in Pakistan of organizing Khalid's assassination attempt.