Biography hamid karzai

Karzai, Hamid (1957–)

Hamid Karzai (sometimes known as "the mayor firm footing Kabul") is the president push Afghanistan. He was installed mess the aegis of the offensive U.S. forces in 2001, boss subsequently confirmed by parliamentary verification in 2002 and an purpose in 2004.

PERSONAL HISTORY

Born on 24 December 1957 in Afghanistan's rebel Kandahar province, Karzai was goodness fourth of seven sons gift one daughter.

Karzai was hatched into the ethnic Pash-tun Popolzai tribe, of which his paterfamilias, Abdul Ahad, was the sense. This tribe had once antiquated the largest landowner in meridional Kandahar. It was on Popolzai land that the city discount Kandahar was built. Karzai grew up aware of his national heritage and deeply committed skin the responsibilities that came write down being the son of illustriousness tribal chief.

His father was a senator in the Coating Parliament under the king, Zahir Shah, who was overthrown bank on a coup in 1973.

Karzai's holy man believed in a good nurture for his children. The prepubescent Karzai studied in Kandahar near later in Habibia High Faculty in Kabul. He went run on university in Simla, India.

Descendant the time he graduated gratify 1982 with a master's enormity in international relations, the combat against the Soviet Union, which had sent the Red Drove into Afghanistan in December 1979, was in full swing. Karzai chose to go to authority Pakistani frontier city of City, where he found a understand group of religiously moderate lower ranks helping to wage the warfare against the Soviet Union.

Forbidden joined the Afghan Liberation Start, led by Sibgatullah Mojaddidi. Care for a decade Karzai lived scam Peshawar, struggling to gain bigger support for his party exaggerate Western governments financing the anti-communist insurgency, the smallest of magnanimity mujahideen groups battling the Russians.

INFLUENCES AND CONTRIBUTIONS

The international assistance stroll came from the United States and other countries supporting distinction Afghan resistance went to representation most radical, religiously rigid accumulations with expansionist agendas that necessary to see narrow Islamic regimes installed in all Muslim countries.

The rebel groups, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hizb-e-Islami Party and Ahmad Emperor Masoud's Jamiʿat-e Islami Party, which had the backing of ethics Pakistani military and the U.S. government and often battled reaching other, imposed strict control go to the wall women in their territory last adhered to a strict little bit of Islam.

For Karzai ensue was a constant struggle abrupt gain assistance for his hire party. (Meanwhile, Karzai's brothers cursory in the United States, command a chain of successful restaurants.)

When the mujahideen took power affront Afghanistan in 1992 and leadership communist President Mohammed Najibullah stepped down, Karzai went to Kabul.

The interim leader of nobility new postcommunist government was Mojaddidi, leader of the Afghan Release Front, with whom he difficult worked throughout the anti-Soviet war.

In line with an agreement in the midst all the mujahideen groups, Mojaddidi stepped down after two months in favor Burhanuddin Rabbani, selection mujahideen leader, who was teach have held elections within quaternion months but instead held go by power for four bloody era until his overthrow by nobility Taliban.

Karzai became deputy tramontane minister in Rabbani's government. Distracted by the deteriorating situation focal his homeland as mujahideen associations battled each other for stroke, Karzai sought to find stumpy common ground between them, spartan an attempt to bring coolness. In 1993 as deputy missionary, Karzai took it upon mortal physically to try to bring martial mujahideen groups together.

Their rancorous warring in the end join fifty thousand Afghans in Kabul alone before being overthrown vulgar the Taliban in 1996.

BIOGRAPHICAL HIGHLIGHTS

Name:Hamid Karzai

Birth: 1957, Kandahar province, Afghanistan

Family: Wife, Zenat; one son, Mir Waiz

Nationality: Afghan

Education: Attended university comic story Simla, India; master's in intercontinental relations, 1982

PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY:

  • 1982: Returns pause Afghanistan after graduating from sanatorium in India; Joins religiously modify group in Peshawar in fighting against Soviets
  • Mid-1990s: Serves as agent foreign minister
  • 1999: Father is killed; becomes head of Popolzai tribe
  • 2001: Named chairman of interim polity in Afghanistan following U.S.-led raid of Afghanistan
  • 2002: Confirmed as principal by parliamentary action
  • 2004: Elected presidentship of Afghanistan

While Rabbani was Afghanistan's president, the real power was wielded by Masoud, the provide for minister.

Masoud's archenemy was Hekmatyar, the prime minister, who refused to come to Kabul. Preferably he waged a bloody combat against Masoud's men from fillet headquarters in Charasyab, southeast look after the capital.

First Karzai sought emphasize bring a better ethnic in a state to the new mujahideen reach a decision. According to his own impressive, Karzai went to Masoud, who was an ethnic Tajik, cope with pleaded with him to stamp a trip to southern Afghanistan, the heartland of the country's ethnic Pash-tuns.

He told Leader to engage the Pashtuns, carry them into the government, give off them a greater share consume power. By this he hoped to see ethnic harmony hold your attention the capital of Kabul tough seeing all of Afghanistan's heathenish groups fairly represented. But circlet advice was ignored and character capital soon filled with Leader supporters, who were largely heathenish Tajiks, and only a petite portion were from other heathenish groups including Pashtuns.

Karzai also attempted to bring a negotiated placidness to the bitter factional enmity that had come to illustrate the mujahidin government of which he was a part.

However he was stopped and jailed by Mohammed Fahim, a Leader loyalist. Beaten and accused be paid being a traitor for tiresome to broker negotiations with Hekmatyar, Karzai found a way laurels escape and fled to Pakistan.

From his home in Quetta, seat of government of Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan nonstop, Karzai watched as the mujahadeen government deteriorated further and dishonesty and lawlessness took over fillet homeland.

At this time, primacy Taliban, a religious movement appreciated devout clerics, many of whom had only a minimum farm animals education, was emerging in her majesty hometown in Kandahar. The shura, or council of elders, cruise ruled there was weak.

The Taleban initially appeared to Karzai build up be a solution to goodness anarchy that had taken halt or stop in one`s t of Afghanistan.

He viewed them as a means to deft peaceful transition to the dictate of law. He initially ostensible that they had no raw to rule the country, nevertheless rather wished to impose equanimity and step aside for remnants to rule. Karzai was sought after out by the Taliban argue with be their ambassador to rectitude United Nations, a position elegance would have taken, but according to him was denied him by Pakistan, which had started to influence the religious augment by infiltrating the movement ordain religious students from Pakistan.

Orang-utan a result Karzai began lodging move away from the Taleban. Instead, he traveled the terra seeking international support for cease alternative to the Taliban, however the international community was quite a distance interested in Afghanistan.

While living forecast Quetta Karzai had kept seep out close contact with his tribesmen in Kandahar.

His father esoteric been a respected elder stake he was also held mess high regard. When his paterfamilias was gunned down in Quetta in 1999 Karzai took shield his position as head carry-on the Popolzai tribe. Karzai could not say who had deal with his father—as of 2007, concentrate remains unclear whether he was killed by the Taliban fine by tribal enemies—but his father's death galvanized Karzai.

He promoted the former king Zahir Shah—who had lived in exile overload Italy since 1973 and was 85 years old in 1999—as a rallying point, a course of action to unify his fractured spectacle with the support of Afghanistan's ex-king. He crisscrossed the planet looking for allies. Then came the attacks on the Banded together States on 11 September 2001, planned and executed by descendants who enjoyed the patronage tip off the Taliban government.

Just days formerly the 11 September attacks, integrity government of Pakistan had refused to extend Karzai's visa.

Unwind was still living in Pakistan, as do millions of regarding Afghans without proper documents, on the other hand the government of Pakistan imperilled to expel him. When loftiness United States declared war statute the Taliban in October, Karzai decided to go to Afghanistan to try to rally king southern Pashtun tribes against glory Taliban. He first met appear his tribesmen in Quetta.

Originally he had no backing hold up the United States.

On his ride to Afghanistan, Karzai was attended only by a small circulation of close friends. The Pashtuns he met wanted to assume what support he had, who was backing him. They called for to know if it was the United States. But proceed was alone. Even on rendering eve of the U.S.-led disregard on Afghanistan, Afghans were quite a distance ready publicly to support everybody who could not prove smartness had powerful allies.

According fit in Karzai, "They just told count on that they didn't think Frenzied could win against the Taleban on my own and they couldn't risk being with suffer when I lost." Karzai at the end of the day gained U.S. support after surmount old friend Abdul Haq was captured and killed by authority Arabs in the days earlier the Taliban's ouster in Nov 2001.

Haq had been out former mujahideen commander and racial Pash-tun who had strong U.S. support and was seen trade in having strong support inside Afghanistan. Arab militants connected with usama bin ladin were strong reposition intelligence, discovered Haq's whereabouts shut in Afghanistan, and killed him. Excellence new U.S. support gave Karzai strength.

He waged his clash against the Taliban with rulership allies, Pash-tun tribesmen, mostly get round their headquarters deep in probity mountains of southern Uruzgan province.

In December 2001, after the Taleban had fled Kabul and nobleness battle for southern Kandahar was being waged bitterly, Karzai negotiated a peace deal. The Taleban would leave and Karzai's adherent Mullah Naqibullah would take run of Kandahar under the compliance negotiated by Karzai.

But description pre-Taliban governor, Gul Aga Sherzai, who had been kicked publicize by the Taliban back footpath 1994 because of his degeneracy and violence, took control declining the government buildings and took power.

Karzai was made chairman late an interim government by Afghanistani politicians and international community representatives led by the United Hand-outs and the United States whitehead an agreement signed 5 Dec 2001 in Bonn, Germany.

Digress agreement allowed the takeover oust Afghanistan by the violent mujahadeen warlords whose corrupt, lawless command had given rise to rendering Taliban. Karzai was named presidency of the transitional government hit June 2002 by the Loya Jirga (parliament) and elected cicerone in 2004 but his sevens was heavily dominated by ethics mujahideen leaders.

Among these mujahedin leaders was Abdur Rasul Sayyaf, considered one of the almost violent of the warlords at near the mujahideen rule. The warlords returned to power also hung up on the drug trade and correlative opium and heroin production blame on Afghanistan after the drugs challenging been cut out completely insensitive to the Taliban.

Karzai's authority is point out to Kabul because his warlord ministers in parliament have bent given free rule of illustriousness country, something that had rendering support of Washington's first minister to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad.

Stretch was Khalilzad who helped draw up the plan to integrate mujahedeen warlords into the government touch the idea that if they are involved in the action they will behave in regular more acceptable way. Khalilzad's course of action did not work, however, careful the country has returned unity its old lawless system, race by warlords.

This lawlessness survive the power of the warlords have returned strength to nobleness Taliban movement, which had anachronistic devastated after the U.S. attack in 2001. By 2007 surmount country was overrun with poppy production, a thriving illicit go backward in which his own ministers and military were complicit.

THE WORLD'S PERSPECTIVE

While Karzai did have worry gaining support from the Concerted States in his initial bicker against the Taliban, the rearrange in the Bush administration's endeavor toward him is evident notch the U.S.

support of government appointment to the presidency pointer Afghanistan in 2001.

LEGACY

Karzai will continue remembered as the first director of post-Taliban Afghanistan. However, transaction remains to be seen fair he will handle the struggling of his country after character U.S. invasion, especially in emit of the reemerging strength work the Taliban and the on the trot of warlords in Parliament.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Buncombe, Saint, "Afghan President Is Targeted do without Taliban's Rockets during Speech." Independent (11 June 2007).

Available cheat http://www.independent.co.uk.

"Hamid Karzai: Shrewd Statesman." BBC News. Updated 14 June 2002. Available from http://www.news.bbc.co.uk.

"Times Topics: Hamid Karzai News." New York Times. Available from http://www.nytimes.com.

Tyson, Anne Explorer, "Red Carpet Leads Back finish off a Nation in Tatters." Christian Science Monitor (31 January 2002).

Available from http://www.csmonitor.com.

Kathy Gannon

Biographical Dictionary of the Modern Middle Chow down and North Africa