First Vice President of Afghanistan from 2020 to 2021
Amrullah Saleh
امرالله صالح
Saleh in 2011
First Vice President of Afghanistan
In office 19 February 2020 – 15 August 2021
President
Ashraf Ghani
Preceded by
Abdul Rashid Dostum
Succeeded by
Sirajuddin Haqqani (as First Deputy Leader)
Acting Interior Minister of Afghanistan
In office 23 December 2018 – 19 January 2019
President
Ashraf Ghani
Preceded by
Wais Barmak
Succeeded by
Masoud Andarabi
Head of the National Directorate of Security
In office February 2004 – June 2010
President
Hamid Karzai
Preceded by
Muhammad Arif Sarwari
Succeeded by
Rahmatullah Nabil
Personal details
Born
(1972-10-15) 15 October 1972 (age 51) Panjshir Province, Afghanistan
Political party
Basej-e Milli
Children
5
Amrullah Saleh (Pashto/Dari: امرالله صالح, Dari pronunciation:[amrʊlˈlɒːhsɒːˈleː(h)]; born 15 October 1972) is an Afghan politician who served as the first vice president of Afghanistan from February 2020 to August 2021, and acting interior minister from 2018 to 2019.[1] He was the head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) from 2004 to 2010.
A member of the mujahideen during the civil war against Afghanistan's communist government, Saleh later joined Ahmad Shah Massoud's Northern Alliance, an anti-Taliban coalition in the northeast of the country.[2] In 1997, Saleh became the head of the Northern Alliance's liaison office inside the Afghan Embassy in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, handling contacts with international non-governmental organizations and intelligence agencies.[3] As head of the NDS, Saleh directed efforts to infiltrate the Taliban and locate Osama bin Laden. Saleh resigned from the NDS in 2010 amidst worsening relations with President Hamid Karzai, founding Basej-e Milli ("National Movement"), a pro-democracy and anti-Taliban political party, shortly afterward.[4] In March 2017, he was appointed State Minister for Security Reforms by President Ashraf Ghani, serving until his resignation in June of that year.[5] Saleh became the acting Minister of Interior Affairs in December 2018, but resigned less than a month later to become Ghani's running mate for first vice president in the 2019 presidential election.[6] Ghani's ticket won the election, and Saleh became first vice president on 25 February 2020.
Saleh was a powerful political figure in Afghanistan and has been the target of numerous assassination attempts.[7] An outspoken critic of the Taliban and Pakistan,[8][9] Saleh has been described as combative[10] and as having a hard-working nature.[11]
Following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on 15 August 2021, Ghani fled the country and Saleh relocated to the Panjshir Valley. There, Saleh proclaimed himself the caretaker president of Afghanistan and announced the formation of the National Resistance Front, an anti-Taliban resistance movement, alongside Ahmad Massoud.[12][13] Saleh fled to Tajikistan shortly after the Taliban seized control of Panjshir on 6 September 2021. He continues to support the NRF from exile, though he has failed to receive any international support for his claim to the presidency.[14][15][16][17]
^"Afghan officials resign over attack". Central and South Asia: AlJazeera. 6 June 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
^Cite error: The named reference pbs.org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference bbc.co.uk was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference Gall was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Saleh Appointed As State Minister For Security Reforms". Tolonews. 12 March 2017.
^"Afghan interior minister resigns to join President Ghani's election..." Reuters. 19 January 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
^"Amrullah Saleh: Why is he on Afghanistan's hit list?". TRT World. 9 September 2020. Archived from the original on 10 September 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
^"Afghan VP Saleh escapes bomb attack in Kabul, 10 killed". Al Jazeera. 9 September 2020. Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
^Rubin, Alissa J. (6 June 2010). "Afghan Leader Forces Out Top 2 Security Officials". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
^"Enigmatic Afghan Vice-President Saleh vows to keep fighting". France 24. 9 September 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
^Nemati, Asma. "Afghanistan Descends even Deeper into Chaos as Two Top Officials Resign". Centre for International Governance Innovation. Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
^"An anti-Taliban front forming in Panjshir? Ex top spy Saleh, son of 'Lion of Panjshir' meet at citadel". The Week. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
^"Afghan Vice President Saleh Declares Himself Caretaker President; Reaches Out To Leaders for Support". News18. 17 August 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
^"Amrullah Saleh in Tajikistan? Afghanistan's Ex-VP May Have Made 'Tactical Retreat' as Taliban Closed In". News18. 23 September 2021. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
^Filseth, Trevor (23 September 2021). "After Renegade Province's Fall, Panjshir Resistance Leaders Surface in Tajikistan". The National Interest. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
^"Panjshir Resistance folds up for now; Saleh reportedly in Tajikistan, Massoud in France". The Tribune. 24 September 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
^O'Donnell, Lynne (29 September 2022). "Afghan Resistance Leaders See 'No Option' but War". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
AmrullahSaleh (Pashto/Dari: امرالله صالح, Dari pronunciation: [amrʊlˈlɒːh sɒːˈleː(h)]; born 15 October 1972) is an Afghan politician who served as the...
Archived from the original on 22 August 2012. Saleh, Amrullah (6 June 2006). "FRONTLINE Interview with AmrullahSaleh" (Interview). Bearak, Barray (17 September...
side. On 17 August 2021, former first vice president of Afghanistan AmrullahSaleh declared himself the "caretaker" president of Afghanistan and announced...
September 2021, Massoud fled to Tajikistan along with former Vice President AmrullahSaleh. Ahmad Massoud was born into a Tajik family in 1989. He is the only...
captured Afghanistan on 15 August 2021, former first vice president AmrullahSaleh, citing provisions of the 2004 Constitution, declared himself the caretaker...
Ashraf Ghani fled the country. Soon after, former first vice president AmrullahSaleh declared himself the caretaker president of Afghanistan and announced...
takeover, and has not formed a government in exile. Ghani's vice president AmrullahSaleh declared himself caretaker president and relocated to Panjshir Province...
by Minister of Defense. One of Massoud's close intelligence agents, AmrullahSaleh, became director of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in 2004...
Muhammad Amrullah Tuanku Muhammad Abdullah Saleh (1840 in West Sumatra – 1909 in West Sumatra) also known as Tuanku Kisai, was a great scholar of Minangkabau...
Abdul Ghani Baradar Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada Preceded by AmrullahSaleh (as First Vice President) In exile 25 May 2016 – 15 August 2021 Supreme Leader...
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Afghanistan chairman Ahmad Zia Massoud and former intelligence chief AmrullahSaleh. The coalition ended with the Taliban takeover of Kabul in 2021. After...
announced over the coming days. The same day, first vice president AmrullahSaleh asserted that he was acting president, claiming that if the president...
headed towards the valley on 22 August 2021. Former Vice President AmrullahSaleh and Ahmad Massoud, son of former anti-Soviet Mujahideen commander Ahmad...
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Vice Presidential candidate AmrullahSaleh. The bombing killed over 20 and injured over 50, including slightly wounding Saleh. Four gunmen then stormed...
Afghanistan, under the leadership of Ahmad Massoud and former Vice President AmrullahSaleh. They have based themselves in the Panjshir Valley, which was a major...
ambushes. Many Afghan groups (including the former intelligence chief AmrullahSaleh and opposition leader Dr. Abdullah Abdullah) believed that Karzai's...
led by President Ashraf Ghani who was backed by two vice presidents, AmrullahSaleh and Sarwar Danish until Ghani fled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE)...
Niqala Sadat Mansoor Naderi, Former State Minister for Peace Wahid Omar AmrullahSaleh the second Panjshir resistance Rafael Pinhasi Israeli politician Mahmud...
attempting to flee along with them. On 17 August, first vice president AmrullahSaleh proclaimed himself caretaker president and announced the formation of...
In exile since August 2021 First Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum AmrullahSaleh 2014–2020 2020-2021 Chosen by electorate. In exile Second Vice President...
Milli; Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, a leader of the Hazara Hezb-e Wahdat and AmrullahSaleh, former director of the Afghan intelligence service NDS and leader of...
the 2021 Taliban offensive and Ghani fled Afghanistan. Vice President AmrullahSaleh declared himself transitional president in Bazarak, capital of Panjshir...