Most Famous Political Lobbyists and Advocates of the Taliban in the West

Many Pashtuns engage in lobbying activities abroad to support the Taliban or to secure foreign backing for the Taliban and Pashtun elites. Some of these individuals will be introduced below.

Laili Helms

Laily Helms is the right woman on the picture

Laili Helms was the Taliban's best-known advocate in the West before the 9/11 attacks. Following the attacks, The New York Times described Helms, who is married to a nephew of the former CIA director Richard Helms, as the Taliban's "unofficial liaison to the West" [1]. During the Pashtun Monarchy in Afghanistan her family was part of Afghanistan's elite; both her grandfathers were ministers in the government of Afghanistan's Pashtun King Mohammad Zahir Shah. 

Hamid Karzai

Hamid Karzai served as the President of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. He belongs to the Popalzai Durrani branch of the Pashtun ethnic group. Before assuming the presidency, Karzai lived in the United States, where his family owned several Afghan restaurants along the East Coast and in Chicago.

Reports by James Risen of The New York Times and other journalists alleged that Karzai’s half-brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, was involved in the Afghan drug trade, particularly in the trafficking of opium and heroin [2]. In 2011, Ahmed Wali was shot and killed by one of his security guards at his home in Kandahar, an event that raised serious concerns about instability in a city considered vital to the Afghan conflict  [3]. Karzai has referred to the Taliban as his “discontent brothers” in several interviews and has repeatedly called for the release of Taliban prisoners, including some detained for terrorism or murder. Many of those released later returned to fighting against Afghan government forces.

Karzai’s personal wealth is estimated to range from several hundred million to several billion dollars, consisting largely of real estate holdings and land both in Afghanistan and abroad, including in the United States. He also maintains assets in various overseas accounts. The Karzai family owns multiple properties and businesses around the world. Their restaurant chain in the United States was operated by Karzai’s brothers, Mahmood and Qayum Karzai, with locations in Baltimore, Cambridge (Massachusetts), and San Francisco.

The BBC presented the Karzai family tree ...:

...and reported about corruption and Taliban connections of Qayum and Mahmood Karzai ...:

...as well as Ahmad Wali Karzai ... :

In addition, the Karzai family holds significant real estate in the United States, the United Arab Emirates, India, Afghanistan, and other countries. Despite his prominence, Hamid Karzai has been described by critics as a “Western stooge.” He and his family have faced numerous accusations of corruption, drug smuggling, misappropriation of state property, and involvement in organized crime.

Zalmay Khalilzad

Zalmay Khalilzad is an Afghan-American diplomat from the Noorzai tribe of the Durrani Pashtuns. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush and briefly under President Barack Obama. Earlier in his career, he was the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2004 to 2005 and to Iraq from 2005 to 2007. In 2017, he was considered for the position of Secretary of State under President Trump. From September 2018 to August 2021, Khalilzad was the Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, working on the US–Taliban peace deal and helping oversee the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan during both the Trump and Biden administrations. He is married to Cheryl Benard, who is an author and political scientist, or possibly an agent herself.

Hamdullah Mohib

Former deputy chief of staff to former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani. He is a Pashtun and according to his interview in the Washington Post, he is married to Lael Adams (born 1987), an American expert on Afghanistan, in 2011 [4]. But his wife is also said to be a Western agent, either of the American CIA or the British MI6. Furthermore, after his fleeing the Taliban several Western institutions, among others the British Oxford Union, invited him to enable him to justify his incompetence. Choosing him as Afghanistan's national security advisors gave the Western intelligence the power and opportunity to control Afghanistan's politics.

Ashraf Ghani

Ashraf Ghani served as the President of Afghanistan from 2014 to 2021. He belongs to the Ahmadzai tribe, a Pashtun subgroup within the Ghilzai confederacy [5]. When the Taliban seized control of Kabul in August 2021, Ghani and his national security advisor, Hamdullah Mohib, fled the country, departing from Kabul airport to the United Arab Emirates. Reports soon emerged alleging that they had carried suitcases filled with millions of U.S. dollars during their escape.

(Photographs depict Ghani boarding the aircraft, and it is speculated that the plane also carried large amounts of cash.)

In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Ghani denied these accusations. When asked whether he had taken any money with him, he stated:“I was wearing Afghan clothes with a waistcoat and a pair of shoes, and that was it. I didn't even have a book. I've lived an honorable life. I have been a self-made man and did not need... I declared all my assets in SIGAR [the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction] now, and its detailed report has shown that there was no money on the helicopter.”

However, Forbes magazine reported on August 10, 2022: "SIGAR said that while fleeing, government officials took as much cash as they could carry, they were limited by the 'payload and performance limitations of the helicopters.'"

(Forbes published the article under the headline: "How Much U.S. Money Did Departing Afghan Officials Steal? How Much Cash Fits On A Helicopter?")

Forbes further commented that SIGAR’s findings were inconclusive:“The SIGAR report doesn’t inspire much confidence and its conclusions are admittedly best guesses, often based on second-hand hearsay. “Since undeclared cash leaves no paper trail,” the report said, investigators had to rely on eyewitnesses instead of documentary evidence. Some key witnesses were “well-known Afghan officials,” all allies of Ghani. It’s impossible to judge their credibility or motivations since SIGAR agreed to their requests for anonymity.”

Even if Ghani did not take money during his departure—which remains doubtful—many Afghans and observers claim that he accumulated vast personal wealth during his presidency. Like his predecessor Hamid Karzai, Ghani’s fortune is estimated to range from several hundred million to several billion U.S. dollars. His assets are believed to be primarily held abroad, particularly in offshore accounts, rather than in property or land within Afghanistan.

Accusations of Ethnic Bias and Misconduct Against Ghani

Ghani has also been accused of ethnic discrimination against non-Pashtun Afghans. During his tenure, terrorist attacks targeting anti-Taliban officials and non-Pashtun communities reportedly increased sharply.

 

(Even members of his own security forces were accused of committing massacres against anti-government protesters.)

In May 2017, Ghani controversially reinstated Gulbuddin Hekmatyar—a notorious Pashtun warlord and war criminal—into political life.

(Photograph caption: From left to right – Hamid Karzai, Ashraf Ghani, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Sayyaf, Abdullah Abdullah, May 2017.)

Additionally, on May 12, 2016, Ghani’s Pashtun bodyguards were allegedly involved in physically assaulting a Hazara protester in London who had condemned the violence perpetrated by Ghani’s security forces in Afghanistan.

Overall, Ashraf Ghani is widely viewed as one of the key figures whose actions and policies facilitated the Taliban’s return to power and the eventual collapse of the Afghan Republic.

Jamil Qaderi

Qaderi's YouTube channel is called "King of YouTube", and the above is a screenshot of his channel. [6]

Jamil Qaderi is a Pashtun YouTuber and social media activist who most probably resides in Germany. Qaderi joins a number of young Pashtun Afghans, who live in the West and support the Taliban through the social channels. They are also called Taliban with neckties. On his YouTube channel Qaderi defames anti-Taliban groups and opposition members and shows support for high-ranking Taliban members.

Diva Patang

Diva Patang is a Pashtun woman living in the United Kingdom. She has become famous since August 2021, when Afghanistan again fell to the Taliban, and she repeatedly justified their rule. She claims that her husband is a businessman. She states that her husband is a businessman. However, many wealthy Pashtuns claim to be engaged in legitimate business, while in reality, they often steal and illegally exploit Afghanistan's natural resources.

On her twitter account she implied that armed anti-Taliban resistance members and leaders are thieves, while she has not condemned the imposed war, atrocities and human rights abuses of the Taliban against non-Pashtun Afghans.

Her tweet [7]:

Roshan M.d Salih and other Islamists

Screenshot of his twitter account looks as follows - 13. Nov. 2022 [8]

Although it may seem unusual, there are actually many non-Afghans from Wahhabi or Muslim Brotherhood backgrounds living outside of Afghanistan who support and promote the Taliban primarily through their YouTube channels. One such individual is Roshan Muhammed Salih, based in the UK, who, according to his Twitter profile, is the editor of the British Muslim news website 5Pillars (5pillarsuk.com). He was invited by the Taliban and has reported from Afghanistan positively, claiming that people there are not oppressed.

Sources:

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/27/world/a-nation-challenged-the-liaison-she-spoke-for-taliban-and-now-pays-a-price.html?scp=1&sq=Laili+Helms&st=cse&pagewanted=all

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/world/asia/05afghan.html

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/12/ahmed-wali-karzai-killing-sparks-fears

[4] https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/what-does-afghanistan-need-some-major-rebranding-says-its-32-year-old-ambassador/2016/04/21/2adb3a66-06e3-11e6-a12f-ea5aed7958dc_story.html

[5] https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/asraf-gilzay-the-afghan-chief-who-ruled-as-shah-over-part-of-iran-from-1137-1725-to-1142-1729

[6] https://youtu.be/gEhjylR_xMA. Accessed 13. Nov. 2022.

[7] https://twitter.com/DivaPatang

[8] https://twitter.com/RmSalih. Accessed 13. Nov. 2022.