Abdullah Abdullah is an Afghan politician and a doctor of medicine.
He was an adviser and a close friend of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the assassinated leader of the
Northern Alliance.
After the fall of the Taliban regime, Abdullah served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan
from 2001 to 2005.
Abdullah ran as an independent candidate in the 2009 presidential election and placed
second with 30.5% of the total votes.
On November 1, 2009, Abdullah quit the runoff election that would have taken place six days
later, on November 7, due to allegations of mass electoral fraud by Karzai.
In 2010, he created the Coalition for Change and Hope, which is one of the leading democratic
opposition movements in Afghanistan.
In 2011, the coalition was transformed into the National Coalition of Afghanistan, which
is supported by dozens of Afghan political parties and members of parliament challenging
the government of Hamid Karzai.
He stood again as a presidential candidate, this time against Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai in
the 2014 presidential election.
Early life Abdullah was born in the second district of
Karte Parwan in Kabul, Afghanistan.
According to Abdullah, both of his parents were born in Kabul.
He is reportedly of Tajik and Pashtun heritage.
His step-father father, Ghullam Muhayuddin Khan Zmaryalay, was a Pashtun from Kandahar.
He has seven sisters and two brothers.
Abdullah's step-father, Ghullam Muhayuddin Khan, was appointed as a senator by King Zahir
Shah.
Khan served in Kandahar and was a high-ranking government official who had risen through
the ranks.
Abdullah's early years were split between living in Panjshir and Kabul, where his father
was serving as an administrator in the land survey, and subsequently the inspection section
of the Prime Minister's office.
Until he became a government minister, Abdullah had only a first name; demands from Western
newspaper editors for a family name led him to adopt the full name Abdullah Abdullah instead
of his step-father's last name Zmaryalay.
Abdullah has three wives, one of them being 35 years younger than him.
Education and medical career Abdullah was a top student throughout his
elementary and high school years.
He graduated from Naderia High School in 1976 and went on to study ophthalmology at Kabul
University’s Department of Medicine, where he graduated and received his medical diploma
in 1983.
After receiving his degree, Abdullah served as the resident ophthalmologist at Noor Eye
Institute in Kabul until 1986.
Later, Abdullah left the country due to the social and political unrest during the communist
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan government.
He worked, briefly, at the Syed Jamaluddin Afghani Eye Hospital for Afghan Refugees in
Peshawar, Pakistan.
Resistance against invasion Soviet war in Afghanistan
In September 1985, Abdullah became the Head of the Health Department for the Panjshir
Resistance Front, coordinating treatments and health care for the resistance fighters
and the civilian population.
Abdullah soon became a close associate and advisor to Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud in
the Soviet war in Afghanistan.
Following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, the Wall Street Journal
referred to Massoud as "the Afghan who won the Cold War".
Islamic State of Afghanistan After the fall of the communist Najibullah-regime
in 1992, the Afghan political parties agreed on a peace and power-sharing agreement.
The Peshawar Accords created the Islamic State of Afghanistan and appointed an interim government.
According to Human Rights Watch:
"The sovereignty of Afghanistan was vested formally in the Islamic State of Afghanistan,
an entity created in April 1992, after the fall of the Soviet-backed Najibullah government.
[...] With the exception of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami, all of the parties [...] were
ostensibly unified under this government in April 1992.
[...] Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami, for its part, refused to recognize the government for most
of the period discussed in this report and launched attacks against government forces
and Kabul generally.
[...] Shells and rockets fell everywhere.
Meanwhile, Hezb-e-Wahdat Islami which was one of the most critical powers also stood
against the central government for committing systematic injustice to Hazara community.
The main reason for the collapse of the Mujaheedin government was not in fact the rocket shells
of Hekmatiyar but rather the marginalization of an entire community, the Hazaras.
Certainly, if Hazaras were not ignored and given their due rights in power sharing, neither
the Taliban nor any other force could have easily overthrown the government.
"
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar received operational, financial and military support from Pakistan.
Afghanistan expert Amin Saikal concludes in Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle
and Survival:
"Pakistan was keen to gear up for a breakthrough in Central Asia.
[...] Islamabad could not possibly expect the new Islamic government leaders [...] to
subordinate their own nationalist objectives in order to help Pakistan realize its regional
ambitions.
[...] Had it not been for the ISI's logistic support and supply of a large number of rockets,
Hekmatyar's forces would not have been able to target and destroy half of Kabul."
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was defeated militarily in Kabul in late 1994 by then Minister of
Defense, Ahmad Shah Massoud's forces.
Abdullah worked as an advisor for Massoud.
In 1995 Abdullah became the Spokesperson for the Islamic State of Afghanistan.
Taliban Emirate versus United Front On September 27, 1996, the Taliban seized
power in Kabul with military support by Pakistan and financial support by Saudi Arabia and
established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Following the capture of Kabul by the Taliban, the United Islamic Front was created under
the leadership of Ahmad Shah Massoud, The NA was supported by Russia, Iran & India.
Dr. Abdullah became the United Front's Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Islamic State of Afghanistan elements of the United Front, including the Defense Minister
Ahmad Shah Massoud and the Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, remained Afghanistan's
internationally recognized government.
The Taliban Emirate received partial diplomatic recognition from the international community.
In early 2001 Abdullah traveled with Ahmad Shah Massoud to Brussels where Massoud addressed
the European Parliament asking the international community to provide humanitarian help to
the people of Afghanistan.
Dr. Abdullah translated when Massoud stated that the Taliban and Al Qaeda had introduced
"a very wrong perception of Islam" and that without the support of Pakistan and Bin Laden,
the Taliban would not be able to sustain their military campaign for up to a year.
On this visit to Europe, Massoud also warned that his intelligence had gathered information
about a large-scale attack on U.S. soil being imminent.
Modern Afghanistan See also: Bonn Agreement and 2001 in Afghanistan
Foreign ministry
In October 2001 the Taliban regime was overthrown by Operation Enduring Freedom including American
and United Front forces.
As a result of the Bonn conference on Afghanistan, Abdullah was appointed Minister of Foreign
Affairs of the Interim Administration in December 2001.
Following the 2004 Afghanistan Presidential Elections, Abdullah was one of the few people
who kept their position from the Transitional Government and was re-appointed as Minister
of Foreign Affairs for another year.
In 2005 he resigned his position.
2009 presidential election On May 6, 2009, Abdullah registered as an
Independent candidate for the 2009 Afghan presidential election, running against incumbent
president Hamid Karzai.
Abdullah selected as his running mates Humayun Shah Asefi as his First Vice President and
Dr. Cheragh Ali Cheragh as Second Vice President.
Afghanistan has an Executive structure featuring two Vice Presidents, a First VP and a Second
VP, to help ensure a stable government by attempting to provide ethnic and religious
balance to senior government leadership positions.
Unofficial and non-certified electoral results were announced during the day on September
16, 2009, showing that Abdullah was in second position with 27.8% of the total votes cast.
President Karzai did not achieve the 50.01% vote majority required to avoid a runoff election.
A large number of fraudulent ballots, mostly belonging to Karzai's camp, were disallowed
by the Independent Afghan Electoral Commission.
Karzai came under intense international political and diplomatic pressure from international
leaders because of allegations of large-scale fraud.
Hamid Karzai eventually agreed to participate in a designated head-to-head runoff election
which was scheduled nationwide for November 7, 2009.
On November 1, 2009, Abdullah announced that he had decided to withdraw from the runoff
election, citing his lack of faith in the President Karzai government's ability to hold
a "fair and transparent" second election process.
Subsequently Hamid Karzai was declared the winner by the Afghan Electoral Commission.
National Coalition of Afghanistan After the 2009 Afghan Presidential Elections,
Abdullah created the Coalition for Change and Hope.
The CCH presents the leading democratic opposition movement against the government of Hamid Karzai.
In the September 18, 2010, parliamentary election, the Coalition for Change and Hope won more
than 90 seats out of 249 seats, becoming the main opposition party.
As a result, it is assumed that the new Parliament will introduce some checks and balances on
the Presidential power.
Regarding the Taliban insurgency and Karzai's strategy of negotiations Dr. Abdullah stated:
"I should say that Taliban are not fighting in order to be accommodated.
They are fighting in order to bring the state down.
So it's a futile exercise, and it's just misleading.
... There are groups that will fight to the death.
Whether we like to talk to them or we don't like to talk to them, they will continue to
fight.
So, for them, I don't think that we have a way forward with talks or negotiations or
contacts or anything as such.
Then we have to be prepared to tackle and deal with them militarily.
In terms of the Taliban on the ground, there are lots of possibilities and opportunities
that with the help of the people in different parts of the country, we can attract them
to the peace process; provided, we create a favorable environment on this side of the
line."
In December 2011, the "National Coalition of Afghanistan" supported by dozens of Afghan
political parties and led by Abdullah Abdullah was formed to challenge the government of
President Hamid Karzai.
Major figures associated with the coalition include Yunus Qanooni, Homayoon Shah-asefi,
Noorolhagh Oloumi, Ahmad Wali Massoud and several current Members of Parliament.
Massoud Foundation Abdullah has been the Secretary General of
the Massoud Foundation since June 2006.
The Massoud Foundation is an independent, non-aligned, non-profitable and non-political
organization established by people who have been affected by the life of Massoud.
It provides humanitarian assistance to Afghans especially in the fields of health care and
education.
It also runs programs in the fields of culture, construction, agriculture and welfare.
2014 presidential candidacy On 1 October 2013, Abdullah officially announced
his nomination for the presidential election held on 5 April 2014.
On 13 April, BBC News reported that the counting indicated that Abdullah had thus far received
44.65% of the vote, with Ashraf Ghani following behind with 33.6%.
Abdullah and Ghani will compete in a run-off election.
John Kerry allegedly made a remark about Dr. Abdullah Abdullah's name during his visit
to Afghanistan in mid July 2014 as the United States Secretary of State.
He was reported to say "A name so nice, they Abdullah'ed him twice."
Secretary Kerry has refused to comment on the matter.
References
External links Dr. Abdullah on YouTube with Ahmad Shah Massoud
in the European Parliament Dr. Abdullah Abdullah Official Presidential
Campaign Website Appearances on C-SPAN
Abdullah Abdullah collected news and commentary at The Guardian
Abdullah Abdullah collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Karzai's Challenger Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Aryn Baker in Pashir, Time, 5 August 2009
Video: Abdullah Abdullah at the Asia Society, New York, 52010