Yunus Qanuni (, born on 10 May 1957 in Panjshir Valley) is an Afghan politician who was

Vice President of Afghanistan The vice president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was the second highest political position attainable in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The vice presidents were elected on the same ticket as the President of Afghanistan, president. ...

. An ethnic Tajik, Qanooni is the leader of the '' Afghanistan e Naween'' (New Afghanistan) political party and former Speaker of the House of the People (the lower house of parliament or Wolesi Jirga).

Biography

Following the Soviet Intervention of Afghanistan in 1979, Qānooni joined with 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 ...

force led by Ahmad Shāh Massoud based in his native Panjshir Valley. He was involved in the creation of the Afghan Northern Alliance and served as Interior Minister in Burhanuddin Rabbāni's government. After the assassination of Massoud in 2001, a trio consisting of Qānooni, Defence Minister

Mohammed Fahim Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim (; – 9 March 2014) was an Afghan military commander and politician and the 2nd Marshal of Afghanistan who served as Vice President of Afghanistan from June 2002 until December 2004 and from November 2009 until hi ...

and Foreign Minister Dr Abdullah took de facto control of the Northern Alliance and its financial resources.

Political career

The

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

backed the

Northern Alliance The Northern Alliance ( ''Da Šumāl E'tilāf'' or ''Ettehād Šumāl''), officially known as the United National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( ''Jabha-ye Muttahid-e barāye Afğānistān''), was a military alliance of groups that op ...

with air support in

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 ...

in 2001. In 2001, Qānuni served as chief negotiator for the Afghan Northern Alliance delegation to the Bonn conference on

in Bonn, Germany. Immediately after the fall of 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) ...

government, Qānuni was interior minister in an interim administration. He was eventually made the education minister in the Afghan Transitional Administration (established in June 2002), and served as a security advisor to interim President Hamid Karzai. Along with Fahim and Abdullah, Qānuni was seen as one of the dominant figures of the Transitional Administration Elections for a permanent government were scheduled for 2004. When Qānuni's ally

was passed over as vice-presidential running mate of Karzai, Qānuni entered the race for the presidency himself. On October 5, 2004, Qānuni's campaign supporter, Abdul Aziz, was assassinated while in Shindand,

. In the election, held October 9, 2004, he placed second to Karzai. On December 23, 2004, the newly inaugurated Karzai announced his administration, and both Qānuni and Fahim were dropped from their Ministerial posts. Qānuni was elected in the 2005 Afghan Parliamentary elections, placing second in the Kabul province. Since the presidential election he has generally been seen as the spokesman of the formerly powerful Tajik ethnic group, which dominated the Northern Alliance and the Transitional Afghan Administration, but was largely sidelined after the 2004 presidential election. As well as his own party, Qānuni has formed an alliance of several parties called the ''Jabahai Tafahim Millie''. On December 21, Qānuni was chosen to lead the 249-seat lower house of parliament with 122 votes against 117 for his closest challenger, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf.

External sources

Biography: Mohammad Yunis QanuniProfile: Yunus Qanuni

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

; 9/10/2004

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qanuni, Yunus Vice presidents of Afghanistan 1957 births Afghan Tajik people Living people New Afghanistan Party politicians Tajik politicians People from Panjshir Province Speakers of the House of the People (Afghanistan) Interior ministers of Afghanistan Afghan politicians

Biography

Political career

External sources

See also

References