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Haji Abdul Qadir Arsala (الحاج عبد القادر , c. 1951 in Jalalabad, Afghanistan-July 6, 2002 in Kabul, Afghanistan) was a former anti-Taliban leader in the United Front (Northern Alliance) and Vice President of Afghanistan in the administration of Hamid Karzai from late 2001 onwards. After the fall of the Taliban regime he also served as the Minister of Public Works.

Qadir belonged to the very influential Pashtun Arsala family from the east of Afghanistan. His brother was the well-known anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban resistance leader Abdul Haq who was executed in late 2001 by the Taliban. The Arsala family is based in the Afghan province of Nangarhar. From 1992 to 1996, Abdul Qadir was the governor of the province before the Taliban gained power. The capital of Nangarhar is Jalalabad.

Biography

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

On September 27, 1996, the Taliban took power in Kabul with military support by Pakistan and financial support by Saudi Arabia. Qadir 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. In the following years he shuttled between Germany and Dubai where he had started a trading business.

In 1999, Qadir returned to Afghanistan joining the United Islamic Front led by Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Lion of Panjshir, which was left as the only resistance force against the Taliban regime and its allies. 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. Qadir came to lead the United Front's Eastern Shura and ensured the alliance's influence in the largely Pashtun east of Afghanistan.

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.

Qadir'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.

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

Abdul Qadir was alleged to have had connections with those engaged in Afghanistan's opium poppy trade.

On July 6, 2002, Qadir 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. One of Abdul Qadir's sons, Haji Mohammed Zaher, was also shot dead in Kabul in 2002.

Personal

Qadir belonged to the very influential Pashtun Arsala family from the east of Afghanistan. His brother was the well-known anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban resistance 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. The family has ties to former king Zahir Shah.

Abdul Qadir'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.

See also

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

References

1. ^ Meena Baktash (July 8, 2002). "Abdul Qadir: 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. 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. "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

v t e Vice presidents of Afghanistan
Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan	Arsala Fahim Shahrani Khalili Qadir
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan	First Vice President Massoud Fahim Qanuni Dostum Saleh Second Vice President Khalili Danish

Template:Persondata

• 2002 deaths
• 1951 births
• Pashtun people
• Vice Presidents of Afghanistan
• Arsala family
• Assassinated Afghan politicians
• Deaths by firearm in Afghanistan
• People murdered in Afghanistan
• Hezb-e Islami Khalis politicians