After leaving his ministerial position, Taher has held other public appointments, including Indonesian ambassador to Norway and Iceland.
[7] He ended his military career when he was promoted to the post of General Secretary of the Department of Religious Affairs and later was appointed as a minister in the Cabinet.
During his time as Minister of Religious Affairs, Taher implemented several initiatives especially related to managing the Indonesian Hajj pilgrimage which dispatches close to 200,000 pilgrims yearly.
Similarly, he was responsible for the introduction of Dana Abadi Umat (DAU), a fund for helping Islamic education, and Dawah in Indonesia.
He has also served as the President of Az-zahra Islamic University in Jakarta from 2004 through 2008 and as the elected chairman of Dewan Masjid Indonesia (Indonesian Mosque Council) from 2006 through 2011.