An adviser to Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani, he often acted as a conduit for the KDP's relations with the Soviet Union.

[2] In 1956, Tawfiq helped found the Kurdish Students' Society in Europe (KSSE) in Wiesbaden.

[3] In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Tawfiq worked in Budapest as a staff member at the secretariat of the World Federation of Democratic Youth.

[5] In February 1972, Tawfiq was selected to join a committee tasked with negotiations between the KDP and the Ba'ath Party on autonomy for the Kurds in Iraq following the peace agreement of 1970.

[citation needed] Following the defeat and exile of the KDP in the Second Iraqi–Kurdish War, Tawfiq surrendered to the authorities and was given a position within the Iraqi government,[7] becoming director-general of the State Enterprise for River Transport by 1978.