AFGHANISTAN. Pol-e-Alam, Logar Province. December 2, 2021. Senior Taliban battlefield commander Maulavi Mohammad Din Shah Mokhbit (center), the Taliban’s Security Chief for Logar Province, speaks with an aide in his office in the Logar Governor’s compound in Pol-e-Alam, Afghanistan.
Mokhbit joined the Jihad against the Soviets as a young man, and later became part of Taliban in the 1990’s. During the 20-year war against the US-backed Afghan government, Mokhbit was a senior battlefield commander for the Taliban, and was captured by US forces and held for several years in the notorious Bagram prison. After the return of the Taliban in 2021, Mokhbit was appointed as the Taliban’s deputy governor of Khost Province, and later transferred to Logar as the Security Chief.