Gholam Serwar Nashir

Born in Khanabad in 1919, son of Sher Khan Nashir. Last ruling Nashir Khan. President of the Spinzar cotton Company. Founded the Nasher Gallery, the Nashir Museum and the Nashir Library. Under him Kunduz became the richest Afghan province. Avid hunter, art collector and philanthropist. Imprisoned after Prince Daoud's coup because of a personal feud. Then in exile in the United Kingdom and in Germany. Dien in Germany in 1982.

G. Serwar Nashir led a remarkable life between east and west, between tribal traditions and a cosmopolitan lifestyle. The ruling of his Khanat was exemplary, as it was a balance between traditional authoritarian regency and modern enlightenment. The Oxford-professor Peter Levi called it - not without some irony - "enlightened despotism" (in his book "In the Light Garden of the Angel King"). Nashir turned Kunduz into a world renown cotton provider, the Spinzar Cotton Company had over 20,000 employees living in Spinzar houses with the Spinzar Clubs providing tennis courts and swimming pools for them. This was totally unique in the eastern hemisphere during the sixties and seventies. For the disabled and poor, he had over 200 people fed every day,in a special house next to his home.

Serwar Nashir helped to preserve the cultural heritage of the region Kunduz-Badakshan. He supported the French archaeologist Schlumberger to find the Kunduz-treasure, which is proof of the legendary Greco-bactric empire which existed in around 300 B.C.. The treasure was displayed at the Nashir Museum. Nashir hosted many crowned and uncrowned heads of states, who he treated according to lavish Pashtun hospitality. He was awarded many honors, among the them "The Order of the Sacred Treasure" by his Majesty, the Emperor of Japan, in 1971.