Former Afghan lawmaker charged in US heroin and weapons plot

A former Afghan lawmaker and Border Force general was brought before a Manhattan judge on Friday after federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York accused him of helping broker a heroin and weapons pipeline that stretched from Afghanistan to New York. Abdul Zahir Qadeer was ordered detained pending trial after his initial appearance, as the case laid bare how a once-powerful figure from Afghanistan’s postwar political class allegedly moved between government rank, armed force and transnational trafficking.

The criminal complaint says negotiations with a confidential source began in November 2024. In December 2024, Qadeer allegedly sold a two-kilogram methamphetamine test shipment for $14,000, then kept talking into 2025 about moving hundreds of kilograms of heroin and methamphetamine. Investigators say he also arranged the sale of hundreds of assault rifles, heavy machine guns, pistols, rocket-propelled grenades, grenades and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

By February 2025, the source told Qadeer the plan was to buy 500 to 600 kilograms of heroin and methamphetamine for distribution in the United States. Qadeer allegedly said he could deliver the requested weapons and ammunition within three days once he was given a delivery location, a detail that underscored the alleged speed and scale of the operation. The charges against him include one count of conspiracy to import narcotics and two counts of conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

Qadeer was arrested by Kenyan authorities in Nairobi in April 2025 after he attended a meeting he believed involved members of a drug trafficking organization. Prosecutors say the meeting was actually with DEA confidential sources. He was extradited to the United States on Friday, landing him back in a legal system now examining how a former Afghan political and military insider allegedly became a broker for narcotics and battlefield-grade firepower.

Qadeer’s background makes the case more striking. Court filings identify him as a former general in Afghanistan’s paramilitary Border Force and a former deputy speaker in the National Assembly, a role that once placed him among the country’s most visible power brokers. The federal case now ties that legacy to allegations of drug smuggling and weapons trafficking, with the drug charge carrying a minimum sentence of 10 years and the weapons counts carrying a minimum of 30 years, with the possibility of life in prison.