Aybak (Afghanistan), May 12 (IANS): Former governor of Afghanistan's central Bamyan province during the then Afghan government Mohammad Tahir Zuhair has surrendered to authorities in the northern Samangan province, provincial Director for Information and Culture Firuzudin Munib said on Friday.

Munib said Zuhair surrendered to security forces in the Dara-e-Suf Bala district on Thursday and has been shifted to the provincial capital Aybak city, Xinhua news agency reported.

Zuhair, who had also served as Minister for Information and Culture during the past government, used to live secretly since the fall of the former western-backed administration and induction of the Taliban-run caretaker government in Afghanistan in August 2021, local media said.

Hundreds of ranking officials with the ousted government have either been living in exile or joined the new caretaker administration and living inside Afghanistan.

The country's former President Hamid Karzai and the erstwhile head of the Peace Council in the then government Abdullah Abdullah are among the top officials living in Afghanistan's capital Kabul since the fall of the former government in August 2021.