Mohammed Zaman

Hajji Mohammed Zaman (Zaman Ghamsharik) (29 April 1965 – 22 February 2010) was a Pashtun Afghan military leader and politician.[1] He was an ethnic Pashtun, connected to the Khogyani tribe. According to Maj. Dalton Fury,[2] who fought together with Ghamsharik in November/December 2001 in the Tora Bora campaign against the Taliban, Haji Zaman had been "one of the more infamous mujahideen junior commanders during the Soviet–Afghan War. When the Tailban took over, Zaman departed Afg. for France. He visited Alexandria, VA numerous times over the years and was known to favor the bite of fine Johnnie Walker Red scotch. When the Taliban fell from grace after 9/11, the articulate and cunning warlord returned to his homeland to reclaim his former VIP status. He was said to have influential friends within neighboring Pakistan, including members of the Pakistan intelligence service." He reportedly led a force of 4,000 men during the campaign to oust Afghanistan's Soviet occupiers.[1]

This article is about the Afghan leader. For the Persian calligrapher and painter, see Muhammad Zaman. For other people, see Zaman.

During the initial years of the Taliban's administration of Afghanistan, some sources claim Zaman led resistance fighters from bases in Pakistan against Taliban rule.[1]

In 1997, the government of Pakistan forced him to leave Pakistan. It is possible this is because the Pakistan Government was at that time itself actively supporting the Taliban as a policy of 'strategic depth' in its defence position with India. Haji Zaman spent the remaining years of the Taliban's rule of Afghanistan, (i.e., until shortly after the 9/11/01 WTC attack), in Dijon, France.

Following the September 11 attacks, and subsequent confirmation that Osama Bin Laden was behind the attack, the US demanded Taliban leader Mullah Omar to turn over Bin Laden or face US invasion. Mullah Omar refused to surrender Bin Laden, so the US planned military action as described in CIA officers Gary Berntsen's Jawbreaker, and Gary Schroen's First In. Haji Zaman returned from France to Afghanistan (reportedly at the invitation of the US CIA, as a counterbalance to another Afghan warlord/partner Hazret Ali) and joined with other regional and tribal leaders from the Nangarhar and Khowst provinces to form the Eastern Shura.[1][3]

The Eastern Shura, of which Haji Zaman was a key member, were early backers of the first post-Taliban President Hamid Karzai.

Karzai later appointed Haji Mohammad Zaman Ghamsharik as deputy Chief of Police for Nangarhar Province.[4]

Haji Mohammed Zaman Ghamsharik was killed on 22 February 2010 in a suicide bombing, while addressing refugees in Khogyani District, Nangarhar Province.[5]

There were many families celebrating when they heard about his death because of his cruelty.

It's known about his brother that someone told them about a girl to marry her to one of their family youngsters, when Zaman's brother saw that girl he told his family that no one will marry her except from me, it has been confirmed that it was impossible to find the example of her beauty in all Khogyani.

Later when the girl's father heard about this he refused to give his daughter's hand to Zaman's brother because of his being older than the girl and because he was a man of bad characters.

Later Zaman's brother warned the girl's father and after some time they brought a Jirgah which decided that Zaman's brother must give 1,000,000 pkr to the girl's family, they accepted their decision and gave the girl's hand to Zaman's brother. After a month more or less, Zaman's brother came with his men and shot the girl's father.

Later on the girl's family complained that we didn't hear from a long time about our girl and some men went to Zaman's brother to ask where the girl is. When they went there and asked him about the girl, he than, in arrogance said; "she was not a good girl so i killed her and threw her somewhere." He meant that she had connections with someone else before her marriage.

Many stories like this were occurred about which no one could ask, and this led the people to hate them.

References
  1. Rone Tempest (19 October 2001). "Pashtun leaders meet in Pakistan: Exiled commander urges fight against Taliban". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 17 May 2008.
  2. Fury, Dalton, Kill Bin Laden, (St Martin's Press, NY: 2008) ISBN 0-312-38439-4 OCLC 213300987 p 129
  3. In CIA officer Gary Berntsen's book, he describes Haji Zamar Ghamsharik by a cover name "Nuruddin" but it is clear he is describing Haji Zamar from Maj. Dalton's cross references. Berntsen states p. 280: "Most of Nuruddin's men were from the local Khungani tribe and many of them had been on bin Laden's payroll in recent months, hired to dig caves. One of them, Haji Nazir, later claimed to reporters that he was sent by Nuruddin into the mountains to warn al-Qaeda forces about what was coming..." This suggests that Haji Zamar was at least not keen on capturing or killing Bin Laden, while opening the possibility that he secretly supported al-Qaeda. Afghan warlords, per Schrone and Berntsen, were shifting loyalty frequently (depending on who was winning and/or paying out bigger bribes). Berntsen commented, pg. 290 "I also knew that as far as our Eastern Alliance allies were concerned, they would be happy to take our money and let al-Qaeda slip away". Many of these foot soldiers of Haji Zamar, per Berntsen, pg 275, were "followers of local religious leader Maulawi Mohammad Younus Khalis, who had instructed them to allow al-Qaeda to escape". (It is no surprise Khalis took such a position, since he was the one who in 1996 originally hosted Osama Bin Laden when Bin Laden arrived from Sudan, ie prior to Bin Laden's moving to Mullah Omar's Taliban protection). "Bin Laden Believed to be in Tora Bora". CNN. 2001-11-29.
  4. Amir Shah (6 June 2006). "2 Soldiers Killed by Afghan Roadside Bomb". Washington Post. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
  5. Andres arg (22 February 2010). "Afghan Tribal Leader Who Had Worked With U.S. Killed In Suicide Bombing". NPR. Retrieved 22 February 2010.

Further reading
  • Gary Berntsen, Jawbreaker (Three Rivers Press, NY, 2005, paperback ed.), p. 280
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