KABUL: The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that Abdul Zahir Qadeer, a former deputy speaker of Afghanistan’s House of Representatives, has been extradited from Kenya to the United States and is scheduled to appear before a federal court in New York today on charges of conspiracy to import narcotics and firearms-related offenses.
According to the department, Qadeer was arrested in Nairobi, Kenya, on April 15, 2025, and was transferred to the United States on Thursday, July 10, 2026.
The statement added that Kenya’s High Court approved the U.S. extradition request on April 23, 2026.
He had arrived in Kenya one day before his arrest and was detained by Kenyan police at a hotel in Nairobi.
The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that, in addition to his political activities in Afghanistan, Qadeer was involved in international narcotics trafficking and the illicit trade of military weapons.
The department further claimed that, before his arrest, Qadeer negotiated the sale of narcotics and firearms with a confidential source working for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and sold a two-kilogram test shipment of methamphetamine in South Africa in December 2024.
U.S. authorities said the federal court in New York will continue legal proceedings on the charges against Qadeer.
Former Afghan MP faces U.S. court over alleged drug and weapons offenses
