Ismail Khan

Muhammed Ismā ʿ il (Persian محمد اسماعیل, better known with the title name as Khan Ismail Khan, born 1946 ) is an Afghan politician. He is an ethnic Tajik and Afghan currently Minister of Energy. Ismā ʿ il was also an influential member of the Jamiat -i Islami.

Since 1979, he fought as a mujahideen commander initially the central government, then the invading Soviets. His policies were doing to be highly effective. In 1992 he became after the Soviet withdrawal under the government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani governor of Herat until he was demoted on 3 September 1995, when troops were flown to combat the Taliban to Herat. On September 5, Muhammad ʿ il Ismā fled without a fight in Iran. He worked then partly together with the frequently changing Abdul Rashid Dostum pages. In 1997, he was betrayed and taken prisoner to the Taliban, but managed to flee to Iran in 1999.

After the fall of the Taliban in the fall of 2001 he returned and again took the office of a Governor of Herat. He has long been regarded as the most influential man in the west of the country.

His behavior towards women was particularly controversial in its time Governor: On the one hand they were trained under his aegis, on the other hand, subject to a reminiscent of the Taliban moral code, which is very criticized and denounced in 2002 by Human Rights Watch.

In 2004 he was Secretary of Energy under President Hamid Karzai.