KHALIL

Khalil was an Afghan tribal leader who had cooperated with the Russians during the Soviet occupation of his country. Cruel and ruthless, he killed anything that kept him from getting what he wanted, even his own men. He had set his sights on Zia, the wife of an Afghan resistance leader, and he had killed her husband by shooting him in the back. He repeatedly tried to force himself on Zia, and her young son Ahmed felt powerless to intervene.

When an early American Rogallo satellite fell out of orbit, MacGyver was sent to Afghanistan to retrieve the classified data capsule from the downed satellite. In order to get to the target quickly, MacGyver flew an obsolete military jet into Afghan airspace, then parachuted from the jet as the Soviets brought it down with ground-to-air missiles. Captain Osharansky, in command of the Soviet Headquarters in the area, ordered all available men, including Sergeant Borsov, to search for the plane and the pilot, and Khalil ordered his men to recover the pilot, knowing that the Soviets would pay handsomely for his capture.

MacGyver recovered the data capsule, but he became trapped on the top of a mesa by Soviet and Afghan forces, and his only means of escape was to piece together parts of the downed satellite to build a hang glider. As MacGyver glided from the mesa, Khalil's men fired automatic weapons and wounded him in the right shoulder and hand, but he was rescued by Ahmed, who had witnessed MacGyver's resourcefulness and believed that he might be strong enough to defeat Khalil. Ahmed brought MacGyver to his home and convinced his mother to help him, but soon Khalil returned, threatening to kill not only MacGyver but Zia and Ahmed as well. However, MacGyver used a ladle to shatter the top of a tank of butane, causing the tank to be propelled as a projectile that knocked Khalil backward. As he fell to the ground, his gun accidentally fired, shooting him in the chest and killing him. To prevent discovery, Ahmed and his mother dragged Khalil's body away behind his horse and buried him.

Portrayed by: Sid Haig

Cross Reference: Afghanistan, Ahmed, Sergeant Borsov, Captain Osharansky, Rogallo Satellite, Zia

Episode Reference: To Be a Man