A former Afghan general and politician has been extradited to the US to face drugs and weapons charges, the Department of Justice said on Friday.
Abdul Zahir Qadeer, a former general in Afghanistan’s Border Force and first deputy speaker of the National Assembly’s House of the People, has been accused of conspiring to import heroin and methamphetamine as well as "massive amounts" of weapons.
He was arrested in Nairobi, Kenya, in mid-April.
Jay Clayton, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Mr Qadeer was detained after allegedly selling a two-kilogram test shipment to a buyer in late 2024, which was delivered in South Africa in exchange for about $14,000.
"Unbeknownst to Qadeer, that buyer was working with the DEA [Drugs Enforcement Administration]," Mr Clayton said in a statement. "The scale of potential devastation Qadeer was attempting to bring to the US is terrifying."
The Justice Department alleges Mr Qadeer continued to negotiate with the DEA informant to discuss the sale of hundreds of kilograms of heroin and methamphetamine, along with hundreds of heavy machine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, pistols and grenades.
“The world is safer now that Abdul Zahir Qadeer is facing justice in the United States,” said DEA Administrator Terrance C Cole. “Make no mistake; we will use the full weight of the United States government to bring such individuals to justice."
Mr Qadeer was elected deputy speaker around 2012 and held the position until the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021. He also led a paramilitary police organisation responsible for securing the border, commanding its Eighth Border Battalion in Takhar Province.
If convicted of the charges against him, Mr Qadeer could be sentenced to life in prison.
