Atta Muhammad Nur

An ethnic Tajik, he worked to educate the Mujahideen after the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, gaining the nickname "The Teacher".

He then became a mujahideen resistance commander for the Jamiat-e Islami against the Soviets.

Born in Balkh province, Atta Mohammed joined the mujahideen fighting the Soviet presence in Afghanistan in the 1980s and became affiliated with the Jamiat-e Islami party.

By installing commanders with Whom he had fought in the 1980s and 1990s in local government positions, thus turning them away from destabilizing activities, he created a loyal and disciplined local administration.

As a result, he acquired a monopoly on violence, and achieved relative security and stability even in the most remote districts, at the cost of authoritarian methods.

The security in Balkh Province permitted significant reconstruction and the development of considerable economic activity.

Atta Noor is credited for maintaining political control and economic development and security for Balkh province including its largest city, Mazar-i-Sharif.

By 1992, he had become one of the most powerful Mujahideen commanders in Northern Afghanistan.

Following the fall of Mohammed Najibullah's Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, while remaining a Jamiat commander, he also joined Abdul Rashid Dostum's National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, becoming a deputy leader of that movement during its first congress on June 1, 1992.

However, ideological differences with Dostum soon emerged, and in 1993, he split from Dostum.

In January 1994, Atta Noor fought to consolidate the Islamic State of Afghanistan's control over the capital of Balkh, Mazar-i-Sharif, against Dostum's Junbish militia.

But Dostum struck first, mobilizing 10,000 men and defeating Atta's forces.

When the Taliban government took power in late 1996, Noor served as a commander in the United Front (Northern Alliance) under Ahmad Shah Massoud against the Taliban.

He led operations in the Balkh area.

When the Taliban took power in late 1997, Atta Noor served as a commander in the anti-Taliban United Front (Northern Alliance) under Ahmad Shah Massoud.

Atta Noor led operations in the Balkh area.

Dostum had turned into an ally against the Taliban.

On November 9, 2001, Atta Noor's forces and those of Dostum drove the Taliban from Mazar-i-Sharif.

After the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan under the Hamid Karzai administration, Ustad Atta's forces clashed with those of Dostum several times.

From 2002 onwards, with the support of Jamiat-e Islami allies occupying key positions in the Afghan Transitional Administration and the support of the international community which tried to marginalize Dostum for his dubious record, Atta Noor expanded his influence in Northern Afghanistan.

He managed to seize Mazar-i-Sharif using little force, only the Khulmi District was taken by force.

Atta subsequently attempted to buy the loyalty of local leaders in Faryab, Jowzjan, and Balkh provinces.

In October 2003, Dostum launched an offensive, and managed to retake many of the positions he had lost since 2002.

Near Mazar, Dostum outmanoeuvred Atta's armoured forces, and captured all the key positions around the city.

The fighting initiated by Dostum around Mazar involved tanks and artillery, and resulted in the death of approximately 60 people.

Both Dostum and Atta were, however, coming under increasing pressure from the international community and the central government in Kabul to stop the fighting.

Atta and Dostum worked out a power-sharing agreement in which Dostum conceded Mazar and most of Balkh province to Atta, who in turn renounced his intention of contesting Dostum's influence elsewhere in Northern Afghanistan.

Noor has married once and has five sons and two daughters.

In 2004, President Hamid Karzai appointed him as the governor of Balkh province.

He has been described by The Economist as being "immensely wealthy."

In Late 2004, Atta was appointed governor of Balkh Province by Hamid Karzai.

Atta's opium poppy eradication program between 2005 and 2007, advised by consultants from Adam Smith International, successfully reduced poppy cultivation in Balkh Province from 7,200 hectares in 2005 to zero by 2007.

Governor Atta Mohammad Noor supported Karzai's main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, in the August 2009 presidential election.

Atta Mohammad Noor, is widely recognized as the main source of political power in the Province, and has exercised a high degree of control over politics in Balkh.

His eldest son, Khalid Noor, graduated from Royal Military Academy Sandhurst of London in 2014.

Tariq Noor is studying Public Administration at the American University in Dubai.

His other children are Belal Noor, Suhaib Noor, and Seyar Noor.

Atta Muhammad Nur (also spelled Ata Mohammed Noor; ; born 1964) is an Afghan exiled politician and former militant who served as the Governor of Balkh Province in Afghanistan from 2004 to January 25, 2018.

He was removed from the position of Provincial Governor by President Ashraf Ghani in January 2018.

During the 2021 Taliban offensive, Nur, along with Abdul Rashid Dostum, fled Mazar-e-Sharif to Uzbekistan in August 2021.