Hakim Taniwal

Hakim Taniwal was the Governor of Paktia province in Afghanistan until he was killed September 10, 2006, at age 63, by a suicide bomber with explosives strapped to his body; "when the bomber threw himself under the governor's vehicle and detonated the explosives as Taniwal was approaching his office in the provincial capital, Gardez". [ [http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060911/NEWS06/609110379 indystar.com] sidebar "Suicide bomber kills Afghan governor"] Priot to Gardez, Taniwal had governed the difficult province of Khost, near the border with Pakistan, where al-Qaeda had established training camps during the time of the Taliban and later took refuge in the Tora Bora mountains.

Taniwal was an Afghan exile teaching Sociology in Australia before returning to Afghanistan to take the governorship. Lacking the military background, and the associated questionable human rights record, of so many of the country's past and present politicians, Taniwal was considered an effective and honest administrator before his death.

ee also

*List of Afghan Transitional Administration personnel
*List of Afghanistan Governors
*Assadullah Wafa

ources and notes

Further reading

* [http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2006/s1738206.htm abc.net.au] article "Assassination could destabilise east Afghanistan" published September 11, 2006 "Governor Taniwal is the highest-ranking Afghan official to be killed since the Taliban insurgency began."