Rafiullah Bidar is a former regional director of the

Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) (Dari: کمیسیون مستقل حقوق بشر افغانستان, ) is a national human rights institution that was created during the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, dedicated to the promo ...

Gardez Gardez ( / ; ''Gardēz'', meaning "mountain fortress" in Middle Persian) is the capital of the Paktia Province of Afghanistan. The population of the city was estimated to be ca. 10,000 in the 1979 census and was estimated to be 70,000 in 2008. Th ...

.
alternate link
/ref> He is of the Pashayi ethnic group, a minority in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission was set up with funding from the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

. In an interview with the UK newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' Bidar said: According to the

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

, Bidar was educated in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Bidar maintains extensive records of exit interviews he conducts with released prisoners, because American authorities will not allow him to interview captives currently in detention.

References

Afghan politicians Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{Afghanistan-bio-stub