HEART: One of five Taliban detainees up for possible release by the United States in the name of peace, Khairullah Khairkhwa, divides opinion among those he once ruled in western Afghanistan.
The man who used to govern Herat province is claimed by some to be one of the more liberal and diplomatic figures from the repressive 1996-2001 regime, while others accuse him of presiding over murderous campaigns.
Khairkhwa, who has been in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for nearly 10 years, is now one of the bargaining chips in "confidence building" measures ahead of talks between the Taliban and Washington.
The hard-line Islamists, who have waged a 10-year insurgency since being ousted from power by a US-led invasion in 2001, have demanded the release of the five Taliban detainees ahead of negotiations in the Gulf state of Qatar.
He was also a Taliban spokesman, giving interviews to media outlets including the BBC and Voice of America.
Khairkhwa insists that his job was to oversee tax collection, the police and the import of goods. In testimony to a US court, he variously claims that he would rest, work in a bazaar, grow crops or return to government if he goes back to Afghanistan.
"In the future if I ever work it will be for my people and my country," he said. Mullah Ghulam Farooq Hosseini, a religious teacher in Herat who was in Iran during the Taliban's rule, described Khairkhwa as a "really good man".
"He was doing a lot of good things for society and he was not as extreme as the others," he told AFP.
After the US-led invasion, Khairkhwa left for Pakistan, where he was later detained. Washington has not yet announced if or when it will definitely release the prisoners.
If the deal does go ahead, they would reportedly be transferred to some kind of house arrest in Qatar.
In return, the Taliban are expected to free US soldier Bowe Bergdahl, captured in Afghanistan in June 2009 and shown in several videos released by the militants.
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