Matiullah Khan

A suicide bomber killed an Afghan provincial police chief in Kabul, a regional official said on Thursday, the latest killing to be claimed by Taliban insurgents in a wave of attacks coinciding with the sharp drawdown of foreign troops.

The most powerful man in this arid stretch of southern Afghanistan is not the provincial governor, nor the police chief, nor even the commander of the Afghan Army. It is Matiullah Khan, the head of a private army that earns millions of dollars guarding NATO supply convoys and fights Taliban insurgents alongside American Special Forces.In little mor...

A suicide bomber killed an Afghan provincial police chief in Kabul, a regional official said on Thursday, the latest killing to be claimed by Taliban insurgents in a wave of attacks coinciding with the sharp drawdown of foreign troops.

The most powerful man in this arid stretch of southern Afghanistan is not the provincial governor, nor the police chief, nor even the commander of the Afghan Army. It is Matiullah Khan, the head of a private army that earns millions of dollars guarding NATO supply convoys and fights Taliban insurgents alongside American Special Forces.In little mor...