Karzai, Hamid, << KAHR zy, HAH mihd >> (1957-…), was the president of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. He worked to establish a new national government and to control the country’s warring regional leaders after the 2001 overthrow of a militant Islamic group called the Taliban, which had controlled the country since the mid-1990’s. Karzai also sought international aid to help rebuild Afghanistan after many years of war. Karzai is a prominent member of the Popalzai (also spelled Popolzai or Populzai), an important tribe of the country’s large Pashtun ethnic group.
Karzai was born on Dec. 24, 1957, in Kandahar. His grandfather, Abdul Ahad Karzai, once served as president of Afghanistan’s national council. His father, also named Abdul Ahad Karzai, once served as speaker of the Afghan parliament.
During the 1980’s, Hamid Karzai was active in the war against the Soviet Union, which had sent thousands of troops to Afghanistan in 1979 and 1980. He spent much of his time in Pakistan, where he served as a political representative for anti-Soviet Afghan fighters. The Soviet Union withdrew its troops from Afghanistan in 1988 and 1989. After a period of fighting among various groups, a new government came to power in Afghanistan in 1992, with Karzai as deputy foreign minister.
Karzai initially supported the Taliban when they gained control of Afghanistan in the 1990’s. However, he withdrew his support over concerns about the influence of Arab and Pakistani extremists within the Taliban. In 1999, Karzai’s father was assassinated, reportedly by the Taliban.
In October 2001, a coalition of countries led by the United States attacked Afghanistan. The coalition believed that the Taliban were protecting Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qa`ida, a terrorist organization that supports the activities of Muslim extremists around the world. The coalition blamed al-Qa`ida for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon Building near Washington, D.C.
To help the coalition, Karzai rallied tribes in southern Afghanistan to fight against the Taliban. Karzai also played an important role in the coalition’s victory in Kandahar, the Afghan city that was the spiritual center of Taliban activities. The coalition and its Afghan allies succeeded in driving the Taliban from power in late 2001.
Karzai became the leader of Afghanistan in December 2001, when a conference of Afghan delegates chose him to head a six-month temporary administration. In June 2002, a traditional Afghan council called a loya jirga elected Karzai to serve as president of a two-year transitional government. In January 2004, another loya jirga adopted a permanent constitution for Afghanistan. A presidential election under this Constitution was held in October 2004, and Karzai was elected president for a five-year term.
In August 2009, Karzai claimed victory after a presidential election, but a United Nations-backed investigation found numerous voting irregularities. A runoff election was scheduled for November. However, Karzai’s opponent in the runoff withdrew his bid after expressing his doubts that the runoff would be free from the problems of the original election. Election officials declared that, since Karzai had won the most votes in the original election, he had won the presidency.
