Ghulam Haider Hamidi ( ps, غلام حیدر حمیدی, also spelled Ghulam Haidar Hameedi and also known as Henry Hamidi; 1945 – 27 July 2011) was the Mayor of

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. his family fled to Pakistan, then to the United States. Hamidi graduated from Kabul University with a degree in finance. He spent a brief period in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and lived in the United States for almost nineteen years. He settled in the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

area, and worked as an accountant at Trans Am Travel, a wholesale travel agency in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

. In 2007, he returned to Afghanistan when the country was under the

Karzai administration Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repu ...

. In the late afternoon of 26 July 2011 a plot was discovered by the SFA Team 5 that there was an active plot to assassinate Hamidi by a turban bomb. The team thwarted the attack that day. The team was not present the following morning on 27 July 2011. Hamidi was killed at the municipal building in Kandahar on the morning of July, 27 2011 by a man who had hidden explosives inside his turban. As Hamidi greeted elders in the morning as he often did a man reached up and touched two wires together setting off the explosives killing himself and Hamidi. The

target killing Targeted killing is a form of murder or assassination carried out by governments outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield. Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention within and betw ...

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

was blamed on the Taliban insurgents, who are guided and supported by foreign elements such as Pakistan's ISI spy agency and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

's Revolutionary Guard's

Quds Force The Quds Force ( fa, نیروی قدس, niru-ye qods, Jerusalem Force) is one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) specializing in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations. U.S. Army's Iraq War ...

. Two other associates of

Afghan President The president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was constitutionally the head of state and head of government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021) and Commander-in-Chief of the Afghan Armed Forces. On 15 August 2021, as ...

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...

– his half brother

Ahmad Wali Karzai Ahmed Wali Karzai ( ps, احمد ولي کرزی, , 1961 – 12 July 2011) was a Politics of Afghanistan ...

and

Jan Mohammad Khan Jan Mohammad Khan (died July 17, 2011) was a politics of Afghanistan, politician in Afghanistan, who served as List of governors of Oruzgan, Governor of Oruzgan Province from January 2002 to March 2006, member of the National Assembly of Afghan ...

– were assassinated in the weeks that preceded Haider's killing. Two of Hamidi's deputies and a police chief were previously assassinated. Hamidi himself survived a 2009 bomb attack on his car.

References

2011 deaths 1945 births Assassinated mayors Pashtun people Afghan politicians Mayors of Kandahar Mayors of places in Afghanistan {{Afghanistan-mayor-stub