Juma Khan Hamdard

Hamdard is an ethnic Pashtun of the Wardak tribe from Mazari Sharif. He was born in 1959 in Balkh Province.[2]

He became a popular leader of the Pashtun community of Balkh and Mazar-i-Sharif. Hamdard was a member of Hezbi Islami and fought against the Soviets under the leadership of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. In 1994, his Party Hezbi Islami allied with Abdul Rashid Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek, against the Shura-e Nazar. In 1997, he helped the Taliban's side against Dostum's forces in a bloody campaign.

Following the US-led coalition's invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, Hamdard resumed a weak alliance with Dostum's forces. On the eve of the presidential election in October 2004, he pledged support to Karzai. He became governor of Baghlan, and later Jowzjan,

Dostum's power base was in the ethnic Uzbek heartland. His Uzbek supporters did not want an ethnic Pashtun as Governor. In May 2007 police forces under governor Juma khan Hamdard shot at militant Uzbek demonstrators, while they were trying to force their way into the Governor's office in Sheberghan, killing 13 and injuring more than 30. On December 17, 2007 he was appointed governor of Paktia Province, replacing Rahmatullah Rahmat.[2] Hamdard is one of President Karzai's tribal affairs advisors.

Juma Khan Hamdard is an important personality of northern Afghanistan. He has played a pivotal role in safeguarding the interests of the Pashtuns. He enjoys a mass based of support among the Pashtun settlers in the Northern Afghanistan. He was a military commander and politician. Since the fall of the communist regime in 1992, he has trod a very cautious approach in protecting the interests of Pashtuns in Northern Afghanistan in the wake of rising anti-Pashtun sentiments.

He had escaped an assassination attempt in May 2007 in Jowzjan Province in which his driver and bodyguard were killed. He survived another assassination attempt in the provincial capital, Gardez, on his way back from a poetry session

He has six sons,the eldest son Gul Rahman Hamdard is a member of the parliament.

• “Dostum: Afghanistan’s Embattled Warlord”. The Jamestown Foundation, April 18, 2008
• “Reconstruction Team Serves on Front Line of War on Terror”. American Forces Press Service, February 10, 2009
• “Balkh Power Struggle Leaves Locals Fearful”. UNHCR, Institute for War and Peace, September 29, 2009
• “Govenor [sic] of Paktia, Juma Khan Hamdard”. Demotix.com, November 15, 2009
• “The North on the Brink”. Afghanistan Votes.com, June 15, 2010

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