Zahir Qadir Transferred to US; US Department of Justice Releases New Details of Drug and Weapons Smuggling Case

Kabul Times News

The US Department of Justice has announced that Abdul Zahir Qadir, known as Haji Abdul Zahir, a former jihadi commander, former Afghan Border Forces general and former First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, has been transferred to the US after being extradited from Kenya to face serious charges related to drug and weapons smuggling in a Manhattan federal court.

According to the ministry, Zahir Qadir was arrested in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, in April 2025 and was transferred to the United States after going through legal procedures.

According to the published documents, he faces charges of conspiracy to smuggle hundreds of kilograms of heroin and methamphetamine into the US, as well as attempting to procure and transfer heavy military weapons.

The US Department of Justice also claims that the file contains a list of weapons requested by Zahir Qadeer, including dozens of Kalashnikovs, RPG-7 rocket launchers, PKM, DShK and Kord machine guns, Dragunov SVD sniper rifles, hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, hundreds of hand grenades and dozens of rifles.

According to the documents, US officials say Zahir Qadeer entered into a deal with an individual he believed to be a member of an international drug trafficking network; but that individual was actually a confidential source for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

According to the US Department of Justice, Qadeer initially delivered a test shipment of two kilograms of methamphetamine in South Africa and then discussed larger shipments of drugs and weapons with this source.

This case has been described by American officials as one of the most important criminal cases against a former Afghan official.

Meanwhile, some sources also claim that the investigation by American agencies is not limited to this case and that other individuals, both former government officials and current Taliban officials, are also likely to be under investigation in separate cases. However, no American official has confirmed this claim so far.