Panah Press | Sunday, 25 October 2026
Local sources say Taliban forces searched the home of Matiullah Khan, the former police chief of Uruzgan Province under the former republican government, in Tarinkot, the provincial capital, in an effort to find weapons.
According to these sources, individuals affiliated with the Taliban’s provincial police command entered the former commander’s home on Saturday evening. Local sources also alleged that Matiullah Khan’s family members were treated disrespectfully and threatened. These allegations have not been independently verified.
In a related development, the Taliban’s police command in Uruzgan announced that four Kalashnikov rifles, one pistol, 250 rounds of ammunition and two magazines had been discovered in a hideout in Tarinkot. However, Matiullah Khan’s name was not mentioned in the announcement, and the exact location of the hideout was not specified. It therefore remains unclear whether the weapons and ammunition discovered were connected to the search of his home.
Who Was Matiullah Khan?
Matiullah Khan was an influential security figure in southern Afghanistan during the republican government. In 2011, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai appointed him as police chief of Uruzgan Province. Before that, Matiullah Khan led a local armed force responsible for securing the road between Kandahar and Tarinkot, a route that was important for transporting supplies to foreign forces.
During the war in Afghanistan, he was considered an ally of US and Australian forces in Uruzgan and played a role in fighting the Taliban. However, his activities and those of forces under his command were also accompanied by allegations of abuse of power and extortion, some of which he denied.
Matiullah Khan was killed in Kabul on 19 March 2015. Different accounts of the circumstances surrounding his death were published at the time. Government officials described it as a suicide bombing, while some representatives and local elders claimed that he had been shot.
More than a decade after his death, Matiullah Khan’s name remains associated with Uruzgan’s political and security history and the role of local commanders during the years of conflict in Afghanistan.
Given the differences between local sources’ accounts and the Taliban police command’s announcement, further independent investigation and verification are needed to establish the details of the home search and any possible connection to the weapons discovered.
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