Karim Khalili (; born 1950) is an Afghan politician serving as leader of the Hezb-e Wahdat Islami Afghanistan party. Most recently he was Chief of the Afghan High Peace Council from 2017 until its dissolvement in 2019. He was selected as a candidate for Second Vice President of Afghanistan in 2002 by

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 ...

; they were elected in 2004 and left office in 2014. Since 1989, he has also been one of the main leaders of the Wahdat political party of Hazara.

Early life

Khalili was born in the

Maidan Wardak Province Wardak is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in central Afghanistan. Its capital is the closest provincial city to Kabul. Wardak Have 8 District. Wardak or Wardag (Dari/Pashto: ), is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in ...

of Afghanistan in 1950 as either Muhammad Karim Khalili or Abdul Karim Khalili and belongs to Hazara ethnic group. He attended religious schools during his childhood and moved to

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 ...

in 1970 to continue his education. He participated in the Afghanistan resistance during Soviet invasion. He also served as Minister of Finance of Afghanistan during the

Mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' (), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' (), an Arabic term that broadly refers to people who engage in ''jihad'' (), interpreted in a jurisprudence of Islam as the fight on behalf of God, religion or the commun ...

government in the early 1990s.

Personal life

He has two sons, the older of which is Mohammad Taqi Khalili, Afghanistan's Ambassador to Azerbaijan.

References

Vice presidents of Afghanistan Economy ministers of Afghanistan Ministers of finance of Afghanistan Hazara politicians Living people Mujahideen members of the Soviet–Afghan War Hezbe Wahdat politicians Afghan Shia Muslims People from Maidan Wardak Province 1950 births {{Afghanistan-bio-stub