Ismail Khan
(b. 1946) is the governor of Herat_province, Afghanistan. During the Soviet_invasion_of_Afghanistan of 1979, Khan was an officer in the Afghanistan army, reaching the rank of Mujahedin commander. He has been described as "shrewd, short, and with an elfin smile." His human rights record as governor is said to be decent when compared to other governors. However, after the airing in January 2004 on television of women singing, Khan sided with the Afghan_Supreme_Court opinion that such broadcasts should be banned. After becoming governor of Herat the first time, he was forced to flee after the Taliban took over authority in 1995. Two years later, while organising opposition to the Taliban, he was handed over to the Taliban by old adversaries. Then in March 2000 he escaped and worked as a low-profile member of the Northern_Alliance. During the Afghan_Transitional_Administration, Khan was military commander of western Afghanistan (until August_13, 2003 when President Hamid_Karzai decreed that officials could no longer hold both military and civil posts) and remains the governor of Herat province. He boasts a provincial army of 25,000 men. On March_21, 2004, an assassination attempt against Khan, allegedly ordered by General Abdul_Zaher_Nayebzadah, was reported to have failed. Shortly thereafter, Mirwais_Sadeq — Khan's son and Afghanistan's civil aviation minister — was killed by Nayebzadah's forces, and severe fighting broke out between the two factions in Herat. After hours of fighting in which about 100 people were reported killed, Khan's forces claimed to be once again in control of the city.
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