By John Bingham
The man, described as a “notorious criminal” is said to have secured his position through the influence of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard over local warlords in southern Afghanistan.
U.S Marines patrol as Afghan men harvest opium in a poppy field in Golestan district of Farah province (Photo: REUTERS)
He then set about dividing control of the local opium trade with a neighbouring police chief and extracting a cut of profits from farmers for himself, it is alleged.
When one officer under his command attempted to stop a convoy of drug smugglers, he had him arrested and eventually killed at the hands of the men whose activities he had been trying to curtail, it is claimed.
The report, written in May 2007 by the US Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Farah Province highlights the scale of corruption in Afghan institutions.
It recounts how the man, named in redacted versions only as X, is said to have had links with Iran stretching back to the time of the war against the invading Soviet forces the 1980s.
“It was reported that [X] is a notorious criminal in Afghanistan and a spy for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” the report alleges.
“During the time of the jihad in Afghanistan against the Russians, [X] did not participate in the jihad, but went into Iran and became a spy for the IRGC.
“By order of the IRGC, the jihadi commanders in western Afghanistan were to protect [X] and help him attain a government job.
“In this way, [X] became [a] chief of police.”
While he was chief of police, says the report, he “encouraged the farmers of Bala Bluk, Khaki Safeed, and Bagwa districts, Farah province, to start to cultivate poppies”.
He was then “in a position to protect these farmers and to collect a tithe from them as well”.