MEI - Taliban

Haji Gul Mohammad Barich, a prominent Taliban commander, currently serves as the Governor of Nangarhar province since February 24, 2022. He previously held the positions of Deputy Minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs and Deputy Minister of Civil Aviation during the Taliban's regime in the 1990s. Following the fall of the Taliban's regime in 2001, Barich played a central role in the Taliban's military commission out of Quetta in Pakistan and served as a key member of the “Gerdi Jangal Council,” where he was focused on the Taliban's military activities in southern Helmand province. Notably resourceful, he, as per the INTERPOL, used Rahat Trading Company, a UN-sanctioned money exchange, to fund the Taliban's field commanders for operations in southern Afghanistan. A close confidante of the late Taliban's emir, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor, Barich is a close associate of Defense Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid. In November 2012, the U.S. government designated Gul Mohammad (Naim) Barich under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act) for managing the Taliban’s relationship with Iran. Born in the mid-1970s, he is also listed on the UN's sanctions list under the designation TAi.013.