Profile of Juma Khan Hamdard, the current Governor of Paktia province. Afghanistan. 11/2009.
Juma Khan Hamdard assumed office in December 2007 hailing from the ethnic Pathan Wardak tribe from Mazar-e-Sharif. Born in Balkh the current governor earned his reputation fighting the Soviets under the leadership of former Jihadi leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar until the defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
In 1994 he defected from Hezb-Islami and from the guidance of his mentor Gulbuddin Hekmatyar due to their post-war political differences and then decided to join in an uneasy alliance with the General Rashid Dostum. The purpose of the alliance was to eradicate a new religious movement that was coming from Pakistan’s religious schools and orphanages, a movement that later became known as the Taliba, “the students”.
Juma Khan Hamdard won the support of his province after building a reputation of protecting the interests of the Pathan people north of Afghanistan. He was the former governor of Jowzjan and Baghlan.
The governor and his team travel to the homes of Paktia residences to immunize children against Polio.
The governor then gives a speech to ordinary locals about how it is every Afghans responsibility to help the country recover from thirty years of war. Speaking about the peace they deserve and the problems they currently face and how with the help of the people they can prosper. He pledges his full support for the incumbent President Hamid Karzai days before his inauguration, agreeing with Karzai’s blueprint to make Afghanistan a corruption free state.
He then speaks to the local women of Paktia, repeating what he said to the male residences that with peace and dedication they can recover and prosper.
Having fought against the Taliban in the 1990’s with General Rashid Dostum he tells the women to have faith in the government of Paktia. Some women had complaints to make, he hands them complaint forms for them to fill out and orders his officials to address each problem.
Juma Khan Hamdard then has a meeting with the Paktia PRT officials to discuss the PDC and the spending of aid money assigned over to unaccountable NGO’s.














































