Mir Zaman Khan

Ghazi Mir Zaman Khan, who became known as Loy Khan Ghazi Mir Zaman Khan Kunari was a Royal Afghan Army General and War Hero of the Afghan War of Independence who fought for Pashtun freedom against the British Empire. He is regarded as a National Hero in Afghanistan.

Early life Mir Zaman was born the son of Haji Gulroz Khan in 1869 in Lamattak village, Kunar Province of Afghanistan. He is identified with the Safi tribe. His great-grandfather was Mohammad Akram Khan who left the Tirah Valley due to tribal conflict and settled in Kunar.

Politics and military career From a young age Mir Zaman felt a strong hostility towards the British Raj and its encroachment on the Pashtunistan area. This drew him closer to the tribal leaders of the North-West Frontier of British India leading him to join them in the Sra Ghaza (Red Jihad) of 1908 during the Bazar Valley and Mohmand Expedition.

Due to his frequent activity in crossing the Durand line when fighting the British, Emir Habibullah detained him out of suspicion till the King himself had died in February 1919, and Mir Zaman was released. He caught the attention of Amanullah Khan as a courageous anti-British fighter, he built up a strong influence around the tribes of Kunar and had a close relationship with the Amir, whose mother considered him as her own "adopted son". Mir Zaman fought in the Chatral front in the areas of Asmar and Arnawai where he led the tribes to victory over the British.

He was decorated with various medals after the war by the government of Ghazi Amanullah Khan, he became a member of the government council or Shura-i-Daylat and participated in the first Loya Jirgah of post-independence Afghanistan in 1921 at Jalalabad.

In early 1929, Amanullah Khan abdicated the throne as the Emir of Afghanistan. The son of the late Mir Zaman Khan, Esmatullah Khan joined Amanullah Khan to Kandahar and accompanied him, taking part in small clashes of the King's accompanying army till Quetta, Baluchistan. Esmatullah Khan was taken into custody at Peshawar and offered a large amount of land and property in exchange for his Zamani family to abandon their anti-British stance, they warned him of an unhopeful future in post-Amanullah Afghanistan but he rejected the offer and was secretly guided back to Afghanistan by Mohmand tribesmen.

A Pashto poem lavishing praise on Mir Zaman Khan:

خاني ستا په نوم کړي فخر ته يې فخر د خانانو تاريخ ستا يادونه ستايي ته يې فخر د ځوانانو Lordship prides itself on you, you are the pride of lordship History savors your memories, you are the pride of the young