| Abdul Qadir Arsala عبد القادر |
|
|---|---|
| Vice President of Afghanistan | |
| In office October 2001 – July 2002 (death) |
|
| President | Hamid Karzai |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1951 Jalalabad, Afghanistan |
| Died | July 6, 2002 (aged 51) Kabul, Afghanistan |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
Hajji Abdul Qadir Arsala (c. 1951 in Jalalabad, Afghanistan-July 6, 2002 in Kabul, Afghanistan) (Arabic: الحاج عبد القادر) was a former anti-Taliban leader in the United Islamic Front (Northern Alliance) in Afghanistan. After the fall of the Taliban regime he became a Vice President of Afghanistan in the administration of Hamid Karzai as well as the Minister of Public Works.
Abdul Qadir was the governor of his home province of Nangarhar from 1992 to 1996 before the Taliban gained power. He shortly retook the position after the fall of the Taliban regime in October 2001. The capital of Nangarhar is the famous city of Jalalabad.
Qadir belonged to one of the most influential, affluent and prominent families in the east of Afghanistan.[1] Qadir was the brother of Abdul Haq, a famous Pashtun anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban resistance leader who was executed in late 2001 by the Taliban.
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Abdul Qadir's involvement in Afghan politics predated the 1979 Soviet invasion, but, during the ensuing war, he was a key commander with the Hezb-e Islami Khalis faction.[1] After the fall of the Afghan communist regime in 1992 he 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. Qadir took refuge in neighbouring Pakistan in 1996, but soon ran into trouble with the authorities because of his anti-Taliban stand and left for Germany.[1] For three years he shuttled between Dubai, where he ran a successful trading business, and Germany until he returned to Afghanistan to join the United Islamic Front led by Ahmad Shah Massoud, fighting the Taliban.[1] Qadir's presence in the alliance ensured its influence in the largely Pashtun east of Afghanistan.[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. 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.[1] Haq, involved in the campaign to topple the Taliban, had secretly re-entered Afghanistan from northwest Pakistan.[1] He was attempting to rally anti-Taliban support among the Pashtuns when he was captured by Taliban intelligence in the eastern region and executed.[1] This coincided with another rebellion in the south led by another anti-Taliban Pashtun United Islamic Front-leader, Hamid Karzai, who was more fortunate in evading Taliban attempts to capture him.[1]
After the fall of the Taliban regime Qadir joined with two other leaders, Hazrat Ali and Hajji Mohammed Zaman, to form the so-called Eastern Shura.[2] He accompanied Hamid Karzai on a trip to Bonn in the fall of 2001. Subsequently Afghan president Karzai nominated Qadir to be one of the Vice Presidents of Afghanistan, and Minister of Public Works. Qadir was alleged to have had connections with those engaged in Afghanistan's opium poppy trade.[3]
On July 6, 2002, Qadir and his son-in-law were killed by gunmen in a surprise attack with unknown motive. In 2004, one man was sentenced to death and two others to prison sentences for the killing.[4] Abdul Qadir's son, Haji Mohammed Zaher, was shot dead in Kabul, in 2002. Another of his sons, Zahir Qadir, is a military leader in Hamid Karzai's government.[5][6][7]
Abdul Qadir belonged to one of the most influential, affluent and prominent families in the east of Afghanistan.[1] His family had ties to former king Zahir Shah.[3]
| Preceded by ? |
Governor of Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan (? prior to Taliban period), again 2001–2002 |
Succeeded by Haji Din Mohammad |
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