Colonel Imam
| Amir Sultan Tarar | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Colonel Imam |
| Born | Chattal, Chakwal District, Pakistan |
| Died | North Waziristan, Pakistan |
| Allegiance |
 Pakistan |
| Service/branch |
 Pakistan Army
|
| Years of service | 1974–1994 |
| Rank | PAK Brigadier |
| Unit |
15FF Regiment Special Service Group |
| Commands held | 7th SSG Reconnaissance Regiment |
| Battles/wars |
Soviet war in Afghanistan Civil unrest in Afghanistan Afghan Civil War of 1996 Pakistan War in Afghanistan |
| Awards |
Sitara-e-Jurat Tamgha-e-Basalat Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Military) |
Colonel Sultan Amir Tarar (died January 2011), best known as Colonel Imam, was a Pakistan Army officer and special warfare operation specialist. He was a member of the Special Service Group (SSG) of the army, an intelligence officer of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and served as Pakistani Consul General at Herat, Afghanistan. A veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, he is widely believed to have played a key role in the formation of the Taliban, after having helped train the Afghan Mujahidin on behalf of the United States in the 1980s.
Colonel Imam, who was a commando-guerrilla warfare specialist, had trained Mullah Omar and other Taliban factions. Colonel Imam remained active in Afghanistan's civil war until the 2001 United States led War on Terrorism, and supported the Taliban publicly through media.
He was kidnapped along with fellow ISI officer Khalid Khawaja, British journalist Asad Qureshi and Qureshi's driver Rustam Khan on March 26, 2010. Khawaja was killed a month later. Qureshi and Khan were released in September 2010. Imam was killed in January 2011.
Imam was a graduate of Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) in Kakul (located near Abbottabad in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan), and of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, United States. After his graduation from PMA, he joined the Pakistan Army's 15th Frontier Force Regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant. He was sent to the United States in 1974, and was trained shoulder-to-shoulder among with United States Army Special Forces. Upon his graduation from the Special Forces School, he was awarded American Green Beret by his training commander. Following his return to Pakistan, Imam joined the Special Service Group (SSG). In the 1980s, he participated in Soviet war in Afghanistan, notably the Battle for Hill 3234. Colonel Imam was increasingly involved in Afghanistan's politics even after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. After the Soviet-Afghan war, Colonel Imam supported and trained Taliban fighters independently. It was alleged even in the 2000s that he still independently supported the Taliban independence movement in Afghanistan. He was a disciple of Ameer Muhammad Akram Awan, the current sheikh of silsila Naqshbandia Owaisia.
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