Abdurrahim Wardak

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General Abdurrahim Wardak was appointed Defence Minister of Afghanistan on December 23, 2004^[1] Before this appointment Wardak was deputy Defence Minister to Mohammed Fahim.

A member of the majority Pashtun ethnic group, Wardak fought against the Soviet Union during their invasion of Afghanistan. Wardak name is sometimes transliterated as Abdur Rahim Wardak, or Abdul Rahim Wardag.

He should not be confused with Taj Mohammed Wardak, a fellow Pashtun and former Minister of the Interior.

[edit] Career

Wardak has studied overseas in both the United States and Egypt. His field is education.

**Posts Wardak has held**^[2]
lecturer	Cadet University
Assistant of Protocol	Afghan Defense Ministry
military assistant	Muhaz-e-Milli	during the "years of migration"
military assistant	tri-lateral unity
commander of the Jihadi fronts	Muhaz-e-Milli
member	Itehad-e-Mujahiddin
member of the security committee of Kabul City
Chief of the Army Staff
Director	Military Officers Society
Director	Education Committee
Commission member	Rehabilitation of the National Army Commission
Director	Disarmament Program
Director	Reform of National Army

Wardak has published works in Pashto and Dari and English.

[edit] Not "reasonably available" to provide testimony for Guantanamo detainees

Two Guantanamo Bay detainees, Hiztullah Nasrat Yar and his father, Nasrat Khan, claimed, during their Combatant Status Review Tribunals, that Yar had been assigned the responsibility to guard the weapons cache that triggered his arrest by Wardak himself. ^[3] They had requested Wardak provide an affidavit, testifying to his role. Their Tribunals had told them that the State Department had contacted the Afghan government, and that Wardak's testimony would be unavailable.

Another Guantanamo detainee Hamdidullah, claimed to be a protege of Wardak's, because they both supported the restoration of Zahir Shah, the last King of Afghanistan.

The Boston Globe reported that Guantanamo detainees were routinely told that witnesses who could have been found with a trivial effort were "not reasonably available.^[4]^[5]