Waheed Muzhda

Soviet-Afghan war During the Soviet Afghan war, Muzhda was a part Afghan Mujahideen and wrote several anti-Soviet poetry.

After Taliban took control of Afghanistan, Muzhda worked at Taliban's Foreign Ministry. However, he was never a part of any Taliban religious militia.

Following the killing of Osama bin Laden, Muzdha, while talking to Associated Press (AP), said: "I think now is an opportunity for the Taliban to end their relations with al-Qaeda." Muzdha insisted that the Taliban's ties to bin Laden had weakened prior to his death. Zaeef, like Muzhda, had worked in the Taliban's Foreign Ministry, and had served as the Taliban's Ambassador to Pakistan. Zaeef was held in the controversial Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. Following his release, he served as a key intermediary between his former colleagues within the Taliban and American peace negotiators and he had been the target of repeated night raids. Muzhda explained that many other former Guantanamo captives who had been the target of night raids had been killed, not captured, and that Zaeef feared that US special forces would kill him in a future raid if he didn't leave Afghanistan.

Omar Zakhilwal, a former Afghan envoy to Pakistan, also condemned the killing of Muzhda. He stated that "Muzhda killing is a part of an alarming trend of targeting individuals who work for peace and freedom of speech".

German ambassador to Afghanistan, Peter Prugel, also condemned the targeted assassination of Muzhda. He said that "dissenting voices and opinions must be heard and dealt with, not silenced".

Khairullah Shinwari, a political activist, said that "Afghanistan is not a good place for scholars. Anyone who talks about facts, gets killed. The freedom of speech in Afghanistan is just a slogan".

Abdul Karim Kuram, a former head of office at the Afghan presidential palace, insisted that "if this pattern continues, the funeral of the democracy will also be held, and the main responsibility for this will belong to the government."

Taliban also condemned the assassination of Muzhda and held Afghan intelligence agency, National Directorate of Security (NDS), responsible for the killing of Muzhda.

Muzhda's funeral took place on 21 November 2019 and was attended by prominent figures of all backgrounds.