Sediq Patman, who was recently appointed by President Ashraf Ghani as the governor of Afghanistan's eastern Khost province, has called Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of the militant Haqqani network, as a great hero.

Haqqani, who founded the network in the 1970s, achieved prominence as a guerrilla leader in the US-backed campaign against Soviet forces occupying Afghanistan during the 1980s but later allied himself with the Taliban, fighting American troops after the Taliban were ousted in 2001.
His group became notorious for complex, well-organized attacks on both Afghan and US militaries, as well as civilian targets and high-profile kidnappings.
Speaking in a ceremony to celebrate National Flag Day, Khost Governor Patman on Tuesday reminded how he met “our great leader Mawlawi Sahib Jalaluddin Haqqani” in Gardez in 1979.
“I still see him in the same way as before. He is a great mujahid and a great hero. Respect him,” said Patman, who has also served as deputy education minister under Hamid Karzai.