Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa is a senior Taliban leader who was appointed as Governor of Maidan-Wardak province in early September 2025, marking a notable demotion from his previous role as Minister of Information and Culture, which he held from September 2021 to September 2025.
A close confidante of the Taliban’s founding leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, Khairkhwa has held several key positions within the Taliban movement in the past, including Minister of Interior (responsible for internal security and civilian intelligence), Governor of Herat province, commander of the northwestern region, and spokesperson for the Taliban regime. In 2001, he was captured by U.S. forces and detained at Guantanamo Bay until his release in 2014 as part of a high-profile prisoner exchange involving the so-called “Taliban Five” and U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl.
Following his release, he was transferred to Doha, Qatar, where he played a prominent role in the Taliban's political office and peace negotiations. According to his Guantanamo detainee file, Khairkhwa maintained links to Osama bin Laden and had connections to al-Qaeda training camps, including those operated by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in southwestern Herat.
Born in Kandahar, Khairkhwa received his early education from his late father, Sayed Wali, before the family moved to Pakistan as refugees. In Pakistan, he pursued religious studies, initially in Saranan camp and Quetta city (Baluchistan), and later at Jamia Mohammadiyah (Cherat) and in Kohat. He is reportedly conversational in English, Arabic, and Urdu.
He holds an Afghanistan diplomatic passport (D0009770, issued on October 31, 2021, in Kabul; expires Oct 31, 2026), listing a birth date of June 4, 1969. He is listed on the United Nations sanctions list under designation TAi.093.
