Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai ( ps, احمد شاه احمدزی; 30 March 1944 – 17 October 2021) was an Afghan
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
. He served as acting
prime minister of Afghanistan
The prime minister of Afghanistan ( ps, د افغانستان لومړی وزیر; prs, رئیسالوزرای افغانستان) is the head of government of Afghanistan. The position was created in 1927 as an official appointed by the Kin ...
from 1995 to 1996. He was an ethnic
Pashtun
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
from the
Ahmadzai sub-tribe.
Biography
Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai was born in Malang, a village in the
Khaki Jabbar district of
Kabul Province
Kabul (Persian: ), situated in the east of the country, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. The capital of the province is Kabul city, which is also Afghanistan's capital and largest city. The population of the Kabul Province is ...
. He studied
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
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 then worked in the agriculture ministry. In 1972 he received a scholarship to study in the United States, at
Colorado State University
Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...
. He received a master's degree in 1975 and became a professor at
King Faisal University
King Faisal University (KFU) ( ar, جامعة الملك فيصل ') is a public university with the main campus in the city of Hofuf in Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia founded in 1975. KFU was initially established with four colleges: two in Dammam and t ...
in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
.
Following the
communist coup in 1978, Ahmadzai returned to Afghanistan to join the
mujahideen
''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...
. He was a close associate of
Burhanuddin Rabbani
Burhānuddīn Rabbānī (Persian: ; 20 September 1940 – 20 September 2011) was an Afghanistani politician and teacher who served as President of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996 (in exile from 1996 to 2001).
Born in the Badakhshan Province, Rab ...
, being deputy of his
Jamiat-e Islami
Jamayat-E-Islami (also rendered as Jamiat-e-Islami and Jamiati Islami; fa, جمعیت اسلامی افغانستان, lit=Islamic Society), sometimes shortened to Jamiat, is a predominantly Tajik political party in Afghanistan. It was origi ...
party, but then left and joined
Abdul Rasul Sayyaf
Abdulrab Rasul Sayyaf ( ; ps, عبدالرسول سیاف; born 1946) is an exiled Afghan politician and former mujahideen commander. He took part in the war against the Marxist–Leninist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) govern ...
's
Islamic Dawah Organisation of Afghanistan
The Islamic Dawah Organization of Afghanistan ( ps, د اسلامي دعوت تنظيم افغانستان, fa, تنظیم دعوت اسلامی افغانستان, ''Tanzim-e Dahwat-e Islami-ye Afghanistan'') is a political party in Afghanistan ...
party in 1992, the year that communist rule ended. He served as a minister in the
post-communist Afghan government, variously as interior, construction and education minister, and later became prime minister between 1995 and 1996, although he has downplayed the import of these posts given the chaos due to the fighting at that time.
[
Ahmadzai left Afghanistan in 1996 after the government fled the ]Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
advance. He lived in exile in Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
and London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, before he returned to Afghanistan in 2001 after the fall of Taliban.[ He was an independent candidate in the ]2004 Afghan presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Afghanistan on October 9, 2004. Hamid Karzai won the elections with 55.4% of the vote and three times more votes than any other candidate. Twelve candidates received less than 1% of the vote. It is estimated th ...
supporting an Islamic system of government.[ He secured 0.8% of the total votes counted.]
See also
*Politics of Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a totalitarian theocracy and emirate in which the Taliban, Taliban Islamic Movement holds a monopoly on power. Dissent is not permitted, and politics are mostly limited to internal Taliban policy debates and power struggles. As the ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmadzai, Ahmad Shah
1944 births
2021 deaths
Prime Ministers of Afghanistan
Pashtun people
Islamic Dawah Organisation of Afghanistan politicians
Academic staff of King Faisal University
People from Kabul Province