Afghan Biographies

Mawlawi Abdul Rashid Baluch


Name Mawlawi Abdul Rashid Baluch
Ethnic backgr. Baloch
Date of birth 1972
Function/Grade Kabul Mayor
History and Biodata

1. Former Kabul Mayors Kabul Municipality KM Mayors:
Fazel Karim (2002),
Mohammad Anwar Jigdalak, the Kabul mayor, (since 2003 an) has been sacked by President Hamid Karzai amid complaints of bribery and land-grabbing by senior government members (2004). Mr Jigdalak, an official of the Northern Alliance which dominates the government, replaced by an experienced technocrat, Dr. Ghulam Sakhi Noorzad (20060217), former mayor with canadian expat background,
Eng. Rohullah Aman (200702),
Eng. Mir Abdul Ahad Sahibi Sahebi (20070218) sacked because of a pending corruption case,
Mohammad Younus Nawandish (20100104, 20141222) resigned,
Abdul Ahad Wahidi was appointed as the Acting Kabul Mayor.(20141231)
Abdullah Habibzai acting Mayor (20160626-20180829 resigned)
Shoaib Rahim (20181003-20190205 acting)
Ahmad Zaki Sarfaraz (20190206 acting)
Mohammad Daoud Sultanzoy (20200402, 20210827)

Hamdullah Nomani Mawlawi Noman (20210824) acting
Mawlawi Abdul Rashid Baluch (20220215)
 

Kabul Municipality KM Deputy Mayor:
Wahabuddin Sadat (20100312),
Raziq Malik Rahimzai fired on Thursday, 25.Nov. 10 after four month in office,
Muhammad Naeem Khogman (20101110)
Mohammad Aslam Akrami (20110318)
Eng. Abdul Ahad Wahid (20121126)
Eng. Khozhmand Ulomi deputy mayor for urban services of Kabul municipality (20150415)
Masihullah Mahbob (20161127)
Deputy Mayor of Kabul:
Mawlawi Abdul Rashid (20211005)
Spokesperson of Kabul Municipality:

Mrs. Narges Mohmand (20190923)
Deputy Mayor for Social and Public Awareness services:
Mohammad Fazil Sharifi (20190327)

Head of the Disaster Management Department in Kabul:
Mohammad Khoshhal Zamani (20221213)
 

Head of firefighting department:
Col. Mohammad Kazem (20120325)

Director of Kabul agriculture department:
Hashmatullah Anayat (20120530)
Director of revenues department:
Abdul Wakil Attayee (2009)
Financial and administrative assistant at Kabul municipality:
Engineer Mohammad Aslam Akrami (20140105)
Deputy administrative and finance chief of the Kabul Municipality:
Ahmad Shoaib Rahim (20180218)
Head of finance and administration at Kabul Municipality

Qari Mohibullah Khamosh (20220215)
Head of the cleaning department of Kabul municipality KMC sanitation department:
Nisar Ahmad Habibi Ghori (20160512)
Ahmad Behzad Ghiasi (20170404)
Kabul Traffic Department:
Deputy: Abdul Wadood Khair Khaw (20170731)

 

Background:
Under the constitution, a mayor and members of the municipal councils shall be elected by free, general, secret, and direct elections. President Karzai however appointed all Kabul mayors through a presidential decree.
KMC currently (2017) has about 4,650 employees while Kabul city is home to an estimated six million people.

2. Previous Function:
Taliban's shadow governor of Nimroz Province (2014)
Kabul Mayor (20220100)
3. Biodata:
Maulvi Abdul Rashid Baloch was born 1972 in Dishu District, Helmand Province. He several aliases: AKA: RASHID BALOCH Abdul AKA: RASHID Mullah Abdul AKA: RASHID BAHRAWI Abdul AKA: RASHID Qari Abdul AKA: RASHID Hafiz Abdul AKA: RASHID Abdul. 

 

The U.S. Treasury has placed sanctions on an alleged senior Taliban member, Maulawi Abdul Rashid Baluch, who was arrested by Afghan authorities 2014.

The Treasury said Rashid had been the Taliban's shadow governor of Nimroz Province in the country's southwest, where he helped arrange bombs and deployed suicide bombers aimed at coalition forces and Afghan officials.

 

Rashid was also a liaison to Al-Qaeda as of 2013, arranging meetings between the Taliban leadership and Al-Qaeda members in Karachi, Pakistan, the Treasury said.

He also allegedly raised money for the Taliban by offering protection for the narcotics trade in the region.

"Maulawi Abdul Rashid Baluch has been closely involved in violent attacks and illicit activities" since at least 2007, said Adam Szubin, acting undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism, on June 24.

U.S. law allows the Treasury Department to freeze the U.S. assets of any "specially designated global terrorist," and forbids Americans from any dealings with him.(201506259

Baluch was a Taliban shadow governor, a regional official in charge of military and political operations in the southwestern province of Nimroz, when he was caught with a huge shipment of opium. The drug bust was held up as a major revelation in how the line between Taliban insurgents and the narcotics mafia had blurred in Afghanistan. (Taliban officials have denied that Baluch was involved in drug trafficking.)

Despite evidence of Baluch’s involvement in terrorist attacks, Afghan prosecutors deliberately tried him on stricter counternarcotics charges. They feared that the counterterrorism process was vulnerable to political deal-making.
 

Now, the release of Baluch, especially if it is tied to the United States peace talks with the Taliban, once again brings to the fore the concern that the American negotiations did not address the complexity of the conflict — and particularly how to consider the Taliban’s increasing hold on the massive drug trade in the country.(20191007)

 

Last Modified 2022-12-14
Established 2022-02-16