[1] Born in Kabal Tehsil, Swat, in 1954 Khan started out as a student activist of a left-wing secular party in the 1960s, but became a religious extremist in the early 1990s, becoming a part of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi's leadership in 1994.

[2] In an interview with New England Foundation for the Arts, when asked about his usage of American-styled English and pronunciation, he revealed that he had lived for some time in Boston, Massachusetts.

[4] The BBC reported that Khan spoke Pashto, Urdu, English, Arabic and Persian, and had lived in or travelled across more than a dozen countries in the Middle East, Europe, the US and Asia.

[5] It was also revealed due to a telephone intercept that Khan had urged attacks on the families of soldiers.

[6] Before the start of the Army offensive against the Taliban, Khan claimed that his fighters controlled "more than 90 per cent" of Swat.