A criminal in charge in Marja?

It would appear that in the push to win the hearts and minds of the Afghans NATO is taking good care of some of them, specially of those appointed as top officials in Marja, the area where the surge against insurgents is taking place. One of these officials, appointed by the Afghan regional governor and accepted without any problems by the American officials in the area, is Abdul Zahir Aryan, the only government representative in the town of Marja. He has been given seven staff members which include a cook, a maid and a driver. Not a bad life for someone with such a tumultuous past as Zahir, a past apparently known by American and Afghan officials but not disclosed until now. It would seem that the 60 year old Zahir lived for more than a decade in Germany where he served four years in prison for attempted murder after he tried to stab one of his stepsons. This certainly cast a different light on Zahir than the one emphasized by the American officials of a respected elder and landowner in control of areas just wrestled from Taliban control. It is nevertheless somewhat incomprehensible that he has been given money and protection in an attempt to have the Afghans in that region to follow him.