Afghan Biographies

Bahir, Ghairat Dr. Baheer


Name Bahir, Ghairat Dr. Baheer
Ethnic backgr. Pashtun
Date of birth 1956
Function/Grade Ex Meshrano Jirga Member 2018 MP MNA Kabul appointed
History and Biodata

2. Previous Functions:
Ambassador to Australia (1993),
Ambassador to Pakistan (1994-1996),
Director General foreign Relations of HiG party (2001)
Meshrano Jirga Member 2018 MP MNA appointed (20180916)

3. Biodata:
Bahir_Ghairat_BaheerDr. Ghairat Bahir was born 1956 in Afghanistan. Gulbudin Hakmatyar is his father in law. Bahir edited a weekly magazine called Meesaq Easar. Bahir was serving as Pakistan representative for the Afghan Islamist group Hizb-e-Islami when US and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) picked him up in a midnight raid on his residence in Islamabad in October 2002. On American pressure and was handed over to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and kept years in US custody in various secret locations before being moved to Bagram. Two years he spent at dark prison, at another detention centre at an undisclosed location in the Panjshir valley, and the notorious Pull-e-Charkhi jail in the Afghan capital without any trial. No legal charges were ever brought against him.

Before his release on May 29, 2008, which some media reports suggested took place after a deal under which the Kabul government wanted to start contacts with the group, Bahir was held at a US prison at Bagram airbase near Kabul for four years. He was sent to Pul-i-Charki jail in Kabul after apparently agreeing to cooperate with the administration of President Hamid Karzai. Immediately after his release, Ghairat Bahir was received at the presidential palace in Kabul and offered powerful ministries for the HIA if he agreed to act as a power-broker between top insurgent commanders, including Jalaluddin Haqqani and Hekmatyar, on one side and the US-backed Karzai administration on the other.

Bahir has played a vital role in initial talks between Hizb-e Islami and the Afghan government. He was also invited to Germany for talks with NATO in 2009 but the meeting was cancelled because Hizb-e-Islami captured some French soldiers.

Ghairat Bahir is currently head of the political committee of the HIG.He used to work as a Hezb point man in Australia and the EU.(20120427)

 

The head of the Hekmatyar-led Hezb-e-Islami political committee, Ghairat Bahir, said that the group had withdrawn from peace negotiations. Ghairat said his group made the decision after it discovered that the United States was not sincere about talks. He added that he had met with a number of Afghan and foreign officials in Kabul, but their talks did not produce results. (20130617)
 

Ghairat Baheer, the head of the so-called political commission of Hizb-e-Islamai, said the central leadership has instructed supporters across the country “to actively take part" in the election campaign and vote for presidential candidate Qutbuddin Hilal. (20140215) It is rumored that dubious reports have been planted by the Karzai Government of rifts within the Taliban ranks in recent weeks. Public should believe Hizb-e-Islami’s decision to take part in the polls is likely to cause more problems for the insurgency and is expected to increase the legitimacy of the Afghan presidential elections.(20140217)

President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said that Taliban leaders who were considered in the new government are Mullah Zaeef, the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Wakil Muttawakil, the former Taliban foreign minister, and Ghairat Baheer, a close relative of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whose forces are allied to the Taliban. The Government of National Unity has considered to offer posts of the Ministry of Rural Affairs, the borders and Hajj and Religious Affairs, besides appointing Taliban governors to three southern provinces – Nimruz, Kandahar and Helmand. However,  the Taliban leadership has said that the offer has been turned down due to the signing of the security agreements allowing the foreign troops to remain in the country. Nazifullah Salarzai, Ghani's spokesman, later rejected reports offering ministries to Taliban leaders as concocted. (20150109)
 

Dr. Ghairat Baheer, Dr. Bakhtar Aminzai and Amanullah Azimi were introduced to the upper house by President Ashraf Ghani. Azimi, Baheer and Aminzai replaced Abdul Baqi Baryal, Nisar Haris and Farida Kochi respectively.(20180916)



The father of two sons and five daughters is in improved health after his captivity as he lives in a big bungalow in an upmarket Islamabad neighbourhood.

 

Last Modified 2018-09-16
Established 2010-03-22