Abdul Qadir (Afghan leader)

Abdul Qadeer عبدالقدیر
Vice President of Afghanistan
In office October 2001 – July 6, 2002
President	Hamid Karzai
Personal details
Born	1951 Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Died	July 6, 2002 (aged 50) Kabul, Afghanistan
Religion	Sunni Islam

Abdul Qadeer (عبدالقدیر, born c. 1951 in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, assassinated July 6, 2002 in Kabul, Afghanistan) was a Pashtun leader in Afghanistan. Qadir was a prominent member of the Northern Alliance and opposed the Taliban. He served as the head of Eastern Afghanistan Shura and later Vice President of Afghanistan and Minister of Public Works in the administration of Hamid Karzai from late 2001 until his assassination in 2002.

Qadeer belonged to the influential Pashtun Arsala family from the Afghan province of Nangarhar in Afghanistan.^[1] His brother was the anti-Soviet and Northern Alliance leader Abdul Haq, who was executed in late 2001 by the Taliban. From 1992 to 1996, before the Taliban gained power, Abdul Qadeer was the governor of Nangahar province.

Biography

Abdul Qadeer's was involved in Afghan politics even before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, Qadeer fought against them as a key resistance commander with the Hezb-e Islami Khalis faction.^[1] After the Soviet retreat in 1989 and the fall of the Afghan communist regime in 1992, Qadeer was appointed governor of Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan.^[1]

On September 27, 1996, the Taliban took power in Kabul with military support by Pakistan and financial support by Saudi Arabia. Qadeer had to flee from Nangarhar and entered neighbouring Pakistan. Because of his opposition to the Taliban, however, he soon faced trouble with the authorities in Pakistan. Qadir then left for Germany.^[1] In the following years he shuttled between Germany and Dubai where he had started a trading business.

In 1999, Qadeer returned to Afghanistan to serve their people & he made united Afghanistan by unity to all people of Afghanistan, which was left as the only resistance force against the Taliban regime and its allies.^[1] The United Front included forces and leaders from different political backgrounds as well as from all Afghan ethnicities including Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras or Turkmens. Qadeer came to lead the United Front's Eastern Shura and ensured the alliance's influence in the largely Pashtun east of Afghanistan.^[1]

From the Taliban conquest in 1996 until November 2001 the United Front controlled roughly 30% of Afghanistan's population in provinces such as Badakhshan, Kapisa, Takhar and parts of Parwan, Kunar, Nuristan, Laghman, Samangan, Kunduz, Ghōr and Bamyan. Ahmad Shah Massoud did not intend for the United Front to become the ruling government of Afghanistan. His vision was for the United Front to help establish a new government, where the various ethnic groups would share power and live in peace through a democratic form of government.

Qadeer's younger brother Abdul Haq, a famous anti-Soviet resistance fighter, was assassinated by suspected Taliban agents on October 29, 2001 when trying to rally anti-Taliban support among the Pashtuns as part of the US-led effort against the Taliban after 9/11.^[1]

After the fall of the Taliban regime Abdul Qadeer joined with two other leaders, Hazrat Ali and Haji Mohammed Zaman, to lead the Eastern Shura.^[2] After the 2001 Bonn Conference on Afghanistan, Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai nominated Qadeer to be one of the Vice Presidents of Afghanistan, and Minister of Public Works.

Abdul Qadeer was alleged to have had connections with those engaged in Afghanistan's opium poppy trade.^[3]

On July 6, 2002, Qadeer and his son-in-law were killed by gunmen. In 2004, one man was sentenced to death and two others to prison sentences for the assassination.^[4][5][6][7]

Personal

Qadeer belonged to the very influential Pashtun Arsala family from the east of Afghanistan.^[1] His brother was the well-known anti-Soviet and Northern Alliance leader Abdul Haq who was executed in late 2001 by the Taliban. The Arsala family is based in the Afghan province of Nangarhar. The capital of Nangarhar is Jalalabad. He had very strong ties with the late Afghan King, Zaher Shah. The Afghans, in particular the people of Nangarhar refer to him as the "Warrior of Afghanistan". He is known to have accomplished many things in the time of his power, especially in Nangarhar where he governed.^[8]

Abdul Qadeer's son Zahir Qadir, a former military commander in the Afghan National Army, is currently serving as the deputy speaker of the Afghan House of Representatives.^[9]

See also

• Afridi (Pashtun)
• Abdul Haq
• Ahmad Shah Massoud
• Zahir Shah

References

1. Meena Baktash (July 8, 2002). "Abdul Qadeer: Key leader in Afghan struggle". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
2. Pepe Escobar (December 7, 2001). "Taking a spin in Tora Bora". Asia Times. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
3. Syed Saleem Shahzad (July 9, 2002). "A body blow to U.S.". Asia Times. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
4. "Afghanistan". US Department of State. February 28, 2005. Archived from the original on 2012-04-16. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
5. Burke, Jason (October 6, 2002). "A year of living on the edge". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
6. "Pak seals border temporarily following shootout in Afghanistan". Outlook India. November 8, 2002. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
7. "Border clashes open new Afghan front line". London: The Telegraph. July 18, 2003. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
8. Syed Saleem Shahzad (July 9, 2002). "A body blow to U.S.". Asia Times. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
9. "Zahir Qadir elected as first deputy house speaker". Khaama Press. January 23, 2012.

External links

• US State Department press release after his assassination
• A detailed analysis of Qadir's death from a security standpoint
• Interview with Qadir less than a month before his death
• Haji Abdul Qadir on Find-A-Grave