Hamid Karzai

I

Introduction

Hamid Karzai, born in 1957, first president of Afghanistan, elected in 2004 in the country’s first popular election of a leader. Serving as the country’s transitional head of state since June 2002, Karzai had been responsible for preparing the country for the election. Previously, he had served as Afghanistan’s interim prime minister since December 2001, when the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime collapsed.

II

Early Years

Karzai was born in Kandahār into the prestigious Popolzai (Popalzai) clan of the Durrani tribe of ethnic Pashtuns. From 1747 until the Afghan monarchy was overthrown in 1973, all Afghan kings came from the Durrani. The Karzai family had long played a leading role in Afghan politics. Karzai’s father, Abdul Ahad Karzai, held influence as chief of the Popolzai. He also served in several high-level government posts in Kābul, the Afghan capital, under monarch Muhammad Zahir Shah, who reigned from 1933 to 1973. The younger Karzai spent most of his childhood in Kandahār and attended Habibia High School in Kābul. He then pursued studies in political science at Himāchal Pradesh University in Simla, India. As a student Karzai became fluent in Urdu, English, French, and Hindi; he also speaks Pashto (Pushto) and Dari, the two official languages of Afghanistan.

III

War and the Taliban Regime

In 1979, while Karzai was a student in India, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Karzai’s family fled to Quetta, Pakistan; most of his siblings soon emigrated to the United States, where they established a chain of Afghan restaurants. Karzai chose to join the guerrilla movement to liberate Afghanistan from Soviet military occupation. Although he was not on the front lines, Karzai was a key planner and strategist and, from his base in Pakistan, helped route supplies to the anti-Soviet Islamic guerrillas called mujahideen. The Afghan-Soviet War finally ended with the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989, and Karzai returned to his homeland.

In 1992 Karzai was appointed deputy foreign minister in the administration of Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani. Political infighting led Karzai to resign from the post. Meanwhile, the country was beset by civil war as certain mujahideen factions and warlords fought against the new government. In 1996 the Taliban dislodged the Rabbani government in Kābul, reestablishing Pashtun dominance and imposing a fundamentalist regime in most of the country. Karzai briefly aligned himself with the Taliban, but as a moderate Muslim and advocate of women’s rights, he soon became alarmed by the Taliban’s authoritarian policies based on its interpretation of Islam.

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Karzai returned to Quetta in 1997, joining his father and younger brother in opposition to the Taliban. They launched a movement to establish a loya jirga, or grand council, to devise a plan to replace the Taliban regime. Karzai and others advocated the return from exile of former king Zahir to help lead the country, and in 1999 Karzai was a key participant in the loya jirga that Zahir organized in Rome, Italy.

Karzai became leader of the Popolzai, a clan of about 500,000 members, when his father was assassinated in 1999. In the belief the assassins were Taliban agents, Karzai stepped up his efforts to effect political change in Afghanistan. In 2000 Karzai testified before the Foreign Relations Committee of the United States Senate on the urgent need to replace the Taliban.

In 2001 Karzai was further galvanized into action after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. The Taliban’s links to the terrorist organization suspected of planning the attacks, and its leader, Osama bin Laden, made it a target in the U.S.-led war on terrorism. Soon after the United States began bombing Afghanistan in early October, Karzai entered the country to recruit support among other Pashtun leaders and rally them to fight against the Taliban. Karzai helped negotiate the Taliban’s surrender of Kandahār, its last remaining stronghold, in December.

IV

Leader of Afghanistan

On December 22 Karzai was sworn in as interim prime minister of Afghanistan, having been chosen for the role by Afghan factions participating in United Nations-sponsored negotiations earlier that month. While the power of the interim government was largely confined to Kābul, and U.S.-led bombing continued in many areas, Karzai strove to secure international aid for the postwar reconstruction of Afghanistan. In June 2002 a special loya jirga, comprising more than 1,500 Afghan representatives, voted overwhelmingly to appoint Karzai transitional head of state. His transitional government was charged with leading the country for up to two years and preparing it for its first democratic election.

Afghanistan held its presidential election on October 9, 2004. Karzai won 55.4 percent of the vote, easily beating 15 other candidates in the first round of voting. His victory was officially announced on November 3, after a UN-led investigation found no significant affect of reported voting irregularities on the outcome of the election. Karzai announced he would use his new mandate to try to unite a country long divided by ethnic, religious, and regional rivalries.

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