Muhammad Sarwar Danish (; born 1961) is an Afghan academic and politician in exile who was the second vice president of Afghanistan, from 2014 to 2021. He was previously the

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad range of sk ...

minister of justice from 2004 to 2010 and acting minister of higher education from 2010 to 2014. When

Daykundi province Daikundi (Dari/) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the central part of the country. It has a population of about 516,504 people, who are mostly peasants, traders, and shop owners. Daikundi falls into the traditionall ...

was carved out of Urozgan province in 2004, Danish became its first

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Early years and education

Danish, the son of Muhammad Ali, was born in 1961 in the Ishtarlay District of Daykundi province in central Afghanistan. He belongs to the Hazara ethnic group. As a

Shia Muslim Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

, he completed his higher education in the holy Iranian city of Qom, where he earned degrees in law, journalism and Islamic studies, receiving a master's degree in ''

Fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

''. From 1982 until 2001, he wrote various publications, including 15 books and 700 academic essays. Along with

Dari Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...

and

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

, he also became fluent in the

Arabic language Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Karzai administration

After the Taliban regime was ousted and the Karzai administration was formed, Danish was involved in the 2002 loya jirga. He was a member of the Constitutional Drafting Commission through a decree by President Hamid Karzai and as a participant in the Constitutional Loya Jirga. Following Karzai's election as president in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, Danish became Justice Minister and renounced his membership to Hezbe Wahdat as per Constitutional law.

Ghani administration

Under President

Ashraf Ghani Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan former politician and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was 2021 Taliban offensive, overthrown by the Ta ...

, Danish served as the second vice president in both terms, first with vice president

Abdul Rashid Dostum Abdul Rashid Dostum ( ; ; Uzbek language, Uzbek Uzbek alphabet, Latin: , Uzbek Uzbek alphabet, Cyrillic: , ; born 25 March 1954) is an Afghan former Officer (armed forces), military officer, warlord and exiled politician. He is the founder and ...

and then

Amrullah Saleh Amrullah Saleh (Pashto/, ; born 15 October 1972) is an Afghan politician who served as the Vice President of Afghanistan, first vice president of Afghanistan from February 2020 to August 2021, and acting Ministry of Interior Affairs (Afghanist ...

following the

2019 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2019. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems has a calendar of upcoming elections around the world, and the National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections in cou ...

. In 2021 after Kabul fell to the Taliban, Danish and associates escaped the country and eventually stayed in Turkey. In December 2021 he was resettled in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Early years and education

Karzai administration

Ghani administration

References

See also