Denver Post | By Deb Riechmann and Kirsten Grieshaber | 7 March 2010
Afghanistan: Marjah chief’s crime record will be investigated

In this Feb. 22, 2010 photo released by the United States Agency for International Development, Abdul Zahir speaks to locals during a shura, or meeting, in Marjah, Afghanistan. Abdul Zahir, appointed as the new civilian chief in Marjah just seized from the Taliban, has a violent criminal record in Germany, but Western officials said Saturday, March 6, 2010, they are not pushing to oust him. (AP Photo/United States Agency for International Development, Rory Donohoe)

KABUL — Afghan government officials are not rushing to oust the man they chose to bring fresh and credible governance to a town just seized from the Taliban, but his newly disclosed criminal record in Germany will be investigated further, officials said Saturday.

Court records and news reports in Germany show that Abdul Zahir, who has been appointed as civilian chief in Marjah, served part of a more than four-year prison sentence for stabbing his son in 1998.

An American official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, confirmed Zahir has a criminal record in Germany.

Zahir denies he committed any crime.

“What we’re going to do is investigate more and see what exactly happened, and then we will decide,” said Barna Karami, deputy of the Afghanistan Independent Directorate of Local Government, which works to boost the effectiveness of local governments.

Zahir’s criminal record is at issue because he is tasked with convincing residents of Marjah in Helmand province that the Afghan central government can provide for them better than the Taliban.

The insurgents were routed during a three-week offensive by thousands of U.S., NATO and Afghan troops, and Zahir was appointed the face of a new local government — a key test of NATO’s counterinsurgency strategy since President Barack Obama dispatched 30,000 reinforcements to the war.

Adm. Gregory Smith, director of communications for NATO, said the international alliance strongly supported Helmand Gov. Gulab Mangal, who picked Zahir for the job.

“Zahir, from our reporting, is doing good work down there,” Smith said Saturday, adding that NATO is not pushing Afghan officials to find someone else for the job.

Zahir said he lived in Germany for 15 years before returning to Afghanistan in 2000. He said he worked in Germany at a hotel and a laundry service. It was during this time that he was sentenced for attempted manslaughter.

“I was not a killer. I was not a smuggler. . . . I didn’t commit any crime,” Zahir told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday evening. He said allegations of a criminal record were “all a lie” and accused his adversaries in Afghanistan of trying to tarnish his reputation.

Residents of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, say Zahir has lived there with his family for the past four years. They say he’s been involved in local government issues. Zahir, a leading member of the Alizai tribe, said he took the job as civilian chief in Marjah because he loved his country.

“My country needed me,” he said. “My relatives, my tribe were here.

“This news is coming from those people who are against me. They are against my relations with the foreigners. They want to sabotage me. They don’t want such a person to serve the people, who has good relations with Americans, British and foreigners.”

Mangal, the governor of Helmand, could not be reached for comment. In an interview last week, he said he was not aware of anything illegal in Zahir’s background.

Source: Denver Post