"Karzai" redirects here. For the surname, see Karzai (surname).
Hamid Karzai
حامد کرزی
Karzai in 2012
4th President of Afghanistan
In office 13 July 2002 – 29 September 2014
Vice President
Hedayat Amin Arsala
Mohammed Fahim
Nematullah Shahrani
Karim Khalili
Abdul Qadir
Ahmad Zia Massoud
Yunus Qanuni
Preceded by
Burhanuddin Rabbani
Succeeded by
Ashraf Ghani
Chairman of the Afghan Interim Administration
In office 22 December 2001[1] – 13 July 2002
ViceChairman
Sima Samar
Mohammed Fahim
Muhammad Mohaqiq
Mohammad Shakir Kargar
Hedayat Amin Arsala
Personal details
Born
(1957-12-24) 24 December 1957 (age 66) Karz, Kingdom of Afghanistan
Political party
Independent
Spouse
Zeenat Karzai
(m. 1999)
Children
4
Parent
Abdul Ahad Karzai (father)
Alma mater
Himachal Pradesh University
Military service
Battles/wars
War in Afghanistan
United States invasion of Afghanistan
Battle of Tarinkot
Fall of Kandahar
Taliban insurgency
Hamid Karzai (/ˈhæmɪdˈkɑːrzaɪ/; Pashto/Persian: حامد کرزی, Pashto pronunciation:[ˈhɑmɪdkarˈzai], Dari pronunciation:[ˈhɒːmɪdkaɾzeˈiː]; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan politician who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from December 2004 to September 2014. He previously served as Chairman of the Afghan Interim Administration from December 2001 to July 2002. He is the chief (khān) of the Popalzai Durrani tribe of Pashtuns in Kandahar Province.
Born in Kandahar, Karzai graduated from Habibia High School in Kabul and later received a master's degree in India in the 1980s. He moved to Pakistan where he was active as a fundraiser for the Afghan rebels during the Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989) and its aftermath. He briefly served as Deputy Foreign Minister in the Islamic State of Afghanistan government. In July 1999, Karzai's father was assassinated and Karzai succeeded him as head of the Popalzai tribe. In October 2001 the United States invasion of Afghanistan began and Karzai led the Pashtun tribes in and around Kandahar in an uprising against the Taliban; he became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001.[2] During the December 2001 International Conference on Afghanistan in Germany, Karzai was selected by prominent Afghan political figures to serve a six-month term as chairman of the Interim Administration.[3]
He was then chosen for a two-year term as interim president during the 2002 loya jirga (grand assembly) that was held in Kabul, Afghanistan. After the 2004 presidential election, Karzai was declared the winner and became President of Afghanistan. He won a second five-year term in the 2009 presidential election; this term ended in September 2014,[4] and he was succeeded by Ashraf Ghani.
During his presidency, Karzai was known in the international community for being an alliance builder between Afghanistan's communities. In later years, his relationship with NATO and the United States became increasingly strained, and he has been accused several times of corruption.[5][6][7] He called the Taliban his brothers and warned that the heavy-handed counterinsurgency in Afghanistan would only revive the Taliban insurgency against the former Afghan government, urging the US to instead focus on bringing Pakistan's support for the Taliban leadership to heel, but the US largely ignored his requests.[8] After the Taliban takeover of Kabul in 2021, Karzai stated the Taliban did not capture the city by force, but rather were invited by him in order to prevent chaos.[9] He said that in order to gain international recognition, the new Taliban government needed internal legitimacy, which could be achieved through a general election or loya jirga.[10]
^"Bonn Agreement" (PDF). United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. 5 December 2001. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
^"Profile:Hamid Karzai". United States: Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). December 2001. Archived from the original on 16 January 2010. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
^"Hamid Karzai". Academy of Achievement. Archived from the original on 13 December 2010. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
^"Karzai declared elected president". BBC News. 2 November 2009. Archived from the original on 24 July 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
^"Afghanistan election: profile of Afghan President Hamid Karzai". The Telegraph. 20 August 2009. Archived from the original on 16 June 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
^"Profile: Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai". BBC News. 10 July 2014. Archived from the original on 16 June 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
^"Hamid Karzai's tangled legacy: inept failure or anti-Taliban hero?". The Guardian. 30 March 2014. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
^"With Taliban talks, former Afghan leader Karzai makes a comeback". France 24. 20 August 2021.
^"The AP Interview: Karzai 'Invited' Taliban to Stop Chaos". Voice of America.
^"Exclusive Interview: Karzai Says Taliban's International Recognition Requires Internal Legitimacy". Voice of America.
Zeenat Quraishi Karzai (born 1970) is the wife of former President of Afghanistan HamidKarzai and was the First Lady of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014...
runway. From 2014 to 2021, it was named HamidKarzai International Airport in honor of former President HamidKarzai. After the Taliban returned to power...
The Karzai administration was the government of Afghanistan under President HamidKarzai, who became the head of state of Afghanistan in December 2001...
2001 HamidKarzai entered Afghanistan and linked up with his supporters to seize Tarinkot. Taliban forces launched a counterattack against Karzai's lightly-armed...
Azizullah Karzai. His sons are the former Afghan President HamidKarzai and Ahmed Wali, Mahmud and Qayum. He is also the uncle of Hekmat Karzai. As head...
creation of the Afghan Interim Administration under the chairmanship of HamidKarzai. However, this Interim Administration, which was not broadly representative...
paternal half-brother of former Afghan President HamidKarzai and an elder of the Popalzai tribe. Wali Karzai formerly lived in the United States, where he...
to give up his governorship and to go to Kabul, where he served in HamidKarzai's cabinet as the Minister of Energy. In 2005 Ismail Khan became the Minister...
served briefly as President from 13 November to 22 December 2001, when HamidKarzai was chosen as his succeeding interim leader at the Bonn International...
(Meshrano Jirga). A president could only serve up to two five-year terms. HamidKarzai began his first five-year term in 2004. After his second term ended in...
was led by President Ashraf Ghani, who replaced HamidKarzai in 2014. Before the election of 2004, Karzai led the country after being appointed as President...
following lists events that happened during 2002 in Afghanistan. President: HamidKarzai Vice President: Hedayat Amin Arsala Vice President: Mohammed Fahim Vice...
Rahman was involved in a 1994 rescue of HamidKarzai, the president of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. Karzai had been imprisoned by the government forces...
Minister under the Afghan Transitional Administration. In 2004, President HamidKarzai provided Fahim the honorary title Marshal and a year later, he became...
ophthalmologist and medical doctor in the 1980s. Abdullah ran against President HamidKarzai in the 2009 Afghan presidential election, coming second with 30.5% of...
President of Afghanistan HamidKarzai, and President of Israel Shimon Peres. A few of the notable Pakistani political figures which Hamid Mir has interviewed...
Afghanistan on 20 August 2009. The election resulted in victory for incumbent HamidKarzai, who received 49.67% of the vote, while his main rival Abdullah Abdullah...
border. In 2017, amid cross-border tensions, former Afghan President HamidKarzai said that Afghanistan will "never recognise" the Durand Line as the border...
collapse of the Taliban government. He then served as finance minister in HamidKarzai's cabinet. He resigned in December 2004 to become the dean of Kabul University...
brother of the former president of Afghanistan, HamidKarzai and he is also the brother of Ahmed Wali Karzai, a politician in Afghanistan who served as Chairman...
of Tarin Kowt on 14 November, accompanied by Pashtun militia leader, HamidKarzai, who was returning from exile. Their primary objective was to capture...
Commission through a decree by President HamidKarzai and as a participant in the Constitutional Loya Jirga. Following Karzai's election as president in 2004, Danish...
Afghan National Security Forces. At the Bonn Conference that same month, HamidKarzai was selected to lead the Afghan Interim Administration. Simultaneously...
resigned from the NDS in 2010 amidst worsening relations with President HamidKarzai, founding Basej-e Milli ("National Movement"), a pro-democracy and anti-Taliban...
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