Colonel Imam
Brigadier Sultan Amir Tarar, best known as Colonel Imam, (died 23 January 2011) was a one-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army, and a former diplomat who served as the Consul-General of Pakistan at Herat, Afghanistan. He belonged to the Tarar Jatt Muslim family Amir Sultan Tarar was a Pakistan Army officer and special warfare operation specialist. He was a member of the SSG of the army, an intelligence officer of the ISI and served as Pakistani Consul General in Herat, Afghanistan. A veteran of the Soviet–Afghan War, he is widely believed to have played a key role in the formation of the Taliban, after having helped train the Afghan Mujahidin on behalf of the United States in the 1980s.
Brigadier Amir Sultan Tarar | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Amir Sultan Tarar |
| Nickname(s) | Colonel Imam |
| Born | Chattal, Chakwal District, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Died | 23 January 2011 Mir Ali, North Waziristan, FATA, Pakistan |
| Allegiance | Pakistan |
| Service/ | Pakistan Army |
| Years of service | 1966–1994 |
| Rank | Brigadier |
| Unit | 14/13 Frontier Force Regiment |
| Commands held | CO Parachute Training School |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | Sitara-e-Jurat U.S. Special Forces Tab |
"Colonel Imam" as Tarar was also known, was a commando-guerrilla warfare specialist, and trained Mullah Omar and other Taliban factions and leaders. Colonel Imam remained active in Afghanistan's civil war until the 2001 United States led War on Terrorism, and supported the Taliban publicly through media.
Tarar was kidnapped along with fellow ISI officer Khalid Khawaja and British journalist Asad Qureshi and Qureshi's driver Rustam Khan on 26 March 2010. Khawaja was killed a month later. Qureshi and Khan were released in September 2010. Amir Sultan Tarar was killed in January 2011.