Abdul Ghafar Lakanwal is an Afghan-American politician and activist. He served as cabinet minister in Afghan governments in the 1980s.

Before the revolution

Lakanwal hails from rural Afghanistan.''Twin Cities Daily Planet''.
MINNESOTA VOICES , Dr. Ghafar Lakanwal
' He studied agricultural science at

Kabul University Kabul University (KU; prs, دانشگاه کابل, translit= Dāneshgāh-e-Kābul; ps, د کابل پوهنتون, translit=Da Kābul Pohantūn) is one of the major and oldest institutions of higher education in Afghanistan. It is in the 3rd ...

, and obtained a doctorate from the

University of Hohenheim The University of Hohenheim (german: Universität Hohenheim) is a campus university located in the south of Stuttgart, Germany. Founded in 1818, it is Stuttgart's oldest university. Its primary areas of specialisation had traditionally been ...

. During the 1970s he worked for the West German international development agency.

Minister

Following the 1978

Saur Revolution The Saur Revolution or Sowr Revolution ( ps, د ثور انقلاب; prs, إنقلاب ثور), also known as the April Revolution or the April Coup, was staged on 27–28 April 1978 (, ) by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) ...

, Lakanwal became the chairman of the Peasants Cooperative Union. As of 1980-1981 he was an alternate member of the

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

of the

People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), ''Hezb-e dimūkrātĩk-e khalq-e Afghānistān'' was a Marxist–Leninist political party in Afghanistan established on 1 January 1965. Four members of the party won seats in the 1965 Afgha ...

. He was a member of the Revolutionary Council of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and a Central Committee member of the

National Fatherland Front The National Front (NF), formerly known as the ''National Fatherland Front (NFF)'', was an umbrella organization to the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) which ruled Afghanistan from 1978–1990. NFF was established to recruit more ...

. Lakanwal was named Minister of Agriculture and Land Reform by

Babrak Karmal Babrak Karmal (Farsi/Pashto: , born Sultan Hussein; 6 January 1929 – 1 or 3 December 1996) was an Afghan revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Afghanistan, serving in the post of General Secretary of the People's Democratic Part ...

in 1982. On March 12, 1987, following

Mohammad Najibullah Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (Pashto/ prs, محمد نجیب‌الله احمدزی, ; 6 August 1947 – 27 September 1996), commonly known as Dr. Najib, was an Afghan politician who served as the General Secretary of the People's Democratic Par ...

's ascent to power, Lakanwal was removed from this post.''LA Times''.
Afghanistan Ousts 2 Cabinet Ministers
'

Exile

He was then named Deputy Foreign Minister in Najibullah's cabinet. Whilst visiting the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in November 1988 along with Prime Minister

Mohammad Hasan Sharq Mohammad Hasan Sharq ( ps, محمد حسن شرق, born 17 July 1925) is an Afghan former politician who was active in the communist government of Afghanistan. Sharq became Chairman of the Council of Ministers – the government of the Soviet-back ...

, Lakanwal defected. At the time, he was the highest-ranking defector of the PDPA governments so far.''LA Times''.
2 Afghan Officials Defect, May Seek U.S. Asylum
' Lakanwal sought political asylum in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He eventually became a U.S. citizen. Lakanwal founded the MultiCultural Development Center (MCDC), an anti-racist NGO working in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...

, in 1991. He served as its executive director. MCDC was closed down in late 2009.InsightNews.com.
Local non-profit closes its doors after 18 years of promoting diversity and inclusion
''

References

{{reflist Afghan politicians People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan politicians