Mohammad Arif Noorzai (born 1959) is the former minister of Border and Tribe Affairs for

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 elected to represent Kandahar Province in

Wolesi Jirga The House of Representatives of the People, or Da Afghanistan Wolesi Jirga (), was the lower house of the bicameral National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, alongside the upper House of Elders. The House of Representatives of t ...

, the lower house of its National Legislature, in 2005. He is the first deputy speaker of

and his current position is the Advisor of President Hamid Karzai for security and tribal affairs He is a member of the

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 ...

ethnic group, and the

Noorzai Noorzai () is the name of a Pashtun tribe, part of the Panjpai section of Durrani Pashtuns. Their name means "son of light" whereas Nur is an Arabic word that means "light", and "zai" means "son of" in the Pashto language. Tribally speaking, they ...

tribe. A report on Kandahar prepared at the

Navy Postgraduate School Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a Naval command with a graduate university mission, operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. The NPS mission is to provide "defense-focused graduate education, including class ...

stated he is first deputy speaker, and that he is related to President

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan politician who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from 2002 to 2014, including as the first president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from 2004 to 2014. He previously served a ...

through marriage, and that he is a high school graduate.

Early life

Mohammad Arif Khan Noorzai محمد عارف خان نورزی was born in 1959 at Kandahar province of Afghanistan. Whilst going to school at the province during his early life, he studied Faculty of Agriculture at Kabul University but was unable to complete his studies due to the

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by are ...

. His family moved during the war towards

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# ...

where they settled before returning to Afghanistan soon after.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Noorzai, Mohammad Arif Khan Energy ministers of Afghanistan Water ministers of Afghanistan Politicians of Kandahar Province Living people Members of the House of the People (Afghanistan) 1959 births