Abdul Rahim Ghafoorzai (c.194721 August 1997) was a politician and diplomat of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. He was an ethnic

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

, a member of the Barakzai Mohammadzai tribe. During the 1970s he entered the Afghan foreign service. He was sent to the United States to represent the political administration supported by the Soviet Union. As the ambassador to the United Nations, Ghafoorzai thought it his duty to call on global partners to denounce the Soviet invasion in 1979. From then until 1992, he worked to encourage international opposition to the regime that the Soviets had set up in Afghanistan. When the communist government fell in 1992, Ghafoorzai acted as an intermediary to unite the contending factions. He worked in the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

until 1995 and then became deputy foreign minister. He became

foreign minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

in July 1996. In September 1996 the government troops withdrew from Kabul and the

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

captured Afghanistan's capital,

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

. The international community, other than

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

and

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, did not recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate government. The new

Islamic State of Afghanistan The Islamic State of Afghanistan was established by the Peshawar Accords of 26 April 1992. Many Afghan mujahideen parties participated in its creation, after the fall of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, socialist government. Its power was ...

government established the new cabinet in Mazar e Sharif in the north of Afghanistan, meanwhile the Afghanistan embassies and the permanent mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations were in control of Islamic State of Afghanistan as the legitimate representative of Afghanistan. Ghafoorzai continued as Afghanistan's foreign minister until 11 August 1997. Just ten days before his death, he was appointed

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

of the Islamic State of Afghanistan government. He was killed when the Antonov An-32 plane he was travelling on crashed in Bamyan Airport, near the city of

Bamyan Bamyan (), also spelled Bamian or Bamiyan, is the capital of Bamyan Province in central Afghanistan. Its population of approximately 100,000 people makes it the largest city in Hazarajat. Bamyan is at an altitude of about above sea level. The ...

, where he was going to negotiate with allies to form his cabinet.

References

Afghanistan Online - Abdul Ghafoorzai
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghafoorzai, Abdul Rahim 1997 deaths Prime ministers of Afghanistan Pashtun people State leaders killed in aviation accidents or incidents 1947 births Foreign ministers of Afghanistan Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1997 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Afghanistan