1. Khairullah Said Wali Khairkhwa is a member of the militant Taliban organization currently in control of Afghanistan, who has previously been called one of the "moderate" Taliban.
20 Facts About Khairullah Khairkhwa
1. 2.
Khairullah Khairkhwa is the Taliban Minister of Information and Culture and a former Minister of the Interior.
3.
Khairullah Khairkhwa was released in late May 2014 in a prisoner exchange that involved Bowe Bergdahl and the Taliban five.
4.
American intelligence analysts estimate that Khairullah Khairkhwa was born in 1967 in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
5.
Khairullah Khairkhwa is from the Arghistan District in Kandahar province and belongs to the Popalzai tribe.
6.
Khairullah Khairkhwa studied at the Darul Uloom Haqqania Islamic seminary at Akora Khattak in Pakistan, where many other Taliban leaders studied.
7.
Khairullah Khairkhwa was one of the original members of the Taliban in 1994 and was a spokesman for them from 1994 to 1996.
8.
Khairullah Khairkhwa was chief of police after the Taliban took control of Kabul in 1996.
9.
Khairullah Khairkhwa was the Minister of the Interior under Taliban rule in 1997 and 1998, with Abdul Samad Khaksar, called Mohammad Khaksar, as deputy minister.
10.
Khairullah Khairkhwa was the Governor of Herat Province from 1999 to 2001.
11.
Clark wrote that Khairullah Khairkhwa was comfortable conversing in the Dari language when most Taliban leaders, all members of Afghanistan's Pashtun ethnic group, would only speak in the Pashtun language.
12.
Khairullah Khairkhwa wrote that under Khairkhwa, she was allowed to film openly in Herat, even though doing so was disallowed under Taliban law.
13.
Khairullah Khairkhwa wrote that under Khairkhwa, Afghan women felt comfortable approaching her, and speaking with her, something that rarely happened in other regions of Afghanistan.
14.
However, the deal broke down and Khairullah Khairkhwa fled for Pakistan; the CIA learned of his flight through a communications intercept and the US military dispatched a helicopter-borne commando team to capture Khairullah Khairkhwa.
15.
Khairullah Khairkhwa successfully crossed into Pakistan at Spin Boldak, but after further talks over informing broke down, Khairullah Khairkhwa was arrested by the Pakistanis in Chaman, transferred to the CIA in Quetta, and then sent to Guantanamo.
16.
Khirullah Khairullah Khairkhwa arrived at the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba on May 1,2002.
17.
Khirullah Said Wali Khairullah Khairkhwa was listed as one of the captives who:.
18.
Khairullah Khairkhwa was one of the 71 individuals deemed too innocent to charge but too dangerous to release.
19.
In early 2011, President Hamid Karzai demanded his release and Hekmat Karzai, the director of the Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies in Kabul, said "His release will be influential to the peace process," and that "Mr Khairullah Khairkhwa is well respected amongst the Taliban and was considered a moderate by those who knew him".
20.
On September 7,2021, Khairullah Khairkhwa was named the new Minister of Information and Culture for the interim government.