Ghulam Farooq Wardak (born 1959) is a

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, ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

, formerly serving as the Minister of Education. He was appointed to that position by

Afghan President The president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was constitutionally the head of state and head of government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021) and Commander-in-Chief of the Afghan Armed Forces. On 15 August 2021, as th ...

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...

on October 11, 2008.

Early life

Farooq Wardak was born in the Saydabad Wardak District, in the

Wardak Province Maidan Wardak ( Pashto: ; Dari: ), also called Wardag or Wardak, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the central region of Afghanistan. It is divided into eight districts and has a population of approximately 500,00 The capit ...

. He is 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 r ...

from the Wardak tribe, who is fluent in

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

, Persian,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Kabul City Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

. With the collapse of President Daud Khan's regime, Wardak joined the jihad against the

Democratic Republic of Afghanistan The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA),, renamed the Republic of Afghanistan, in 1987, was the Afghan state during the one-party rule of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) from 1978 to 1992. The PDPA came to power ...

with

Hezb-e Islami Hezb-e-Islami (also ''Hezb-e Islami'', ''Hezb-i-Islami'', ''Hezbi-Islami'', ''Hezbi Islami''), lit. Islamic Party, was an Islamist organization that was commonly known for fighting the Communist Government of Afghanistan and their close ally ...

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ( ps, ګلب الدين حكمتيار; born 1 August 1949) is an Afghan politician, former mujahideen leader and drug trafficker. He is the founder and current leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin political party, so calle ...

. Since the end of

Taliban regime The government of Afghanistan, officially called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is the central government of Afghanistan, a unitary state. Under the leadership of the Taliban, the government is a theocracy and an emirate with political powe ...

in late 2001, Farooq Wardak has continued to support Hezb-e Islami followers by appointing them at interesting administrative positions.

Higher education

After Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Wardak stopped his studies in the faculty of Pharmacy of Kabul University and took refuge in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

with the

Afghan refugees Afghan refugees are citizens of Afghanistan who were compelled to abandon their country as a result of major wars, persecution, torture or genocide. The 1978 Saur Revolution followed by the 1979 Soviet invasion marked the first wave of interna ...

. In 1982, he was admitted to the

Faculty of Pharmacy Faculty may refer to: * Faculty (academic staff), the academic staff of a university (North American usage) * Faculty (division), a division within a university (usage outside of the United States) * Faculty (instrument), an instrument or warrant ...

in Punjab University, and graduated with a degree in 1986. While working with the United Nations from 1996 to 2001 in Pakistan, he received a master's degree in Administration from Preston University, in

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

, Pakistan. He received an honorary doctorate from KIIT University in 2012, other recipients at the ceremony were eminent economist,

Baidyanath Misra Baidyanath Misra (1920-2019) was an Indian economist, educationist, author, and administrator from the state of Odisha. He served as the Vice-Chancellor of the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Deputy-Chairman of Odisha State Plan ...

, and Jigme Thinley, the then Prime Minister of Bhutan.

Work life

* 1986 - 1991: He worked with The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan as a health officer. * 1996 - 2001: United Nations Development program in Peshawar, Pakistan. * 2002 - 2004: worked as Director of the Constitutional Commission Secretariat and later the Secretariat of the Constitutional Loya Jirga, the grand Assembly that ratified the constitution. * 2004 - 2005: he was appointed as Director of the Joint Election Management Body’s Secretariat (a UN and Afghan Government body), organized the first voter registration process and first ever presidential election. * 2005: Was appointed as Cabinet Secretary and Director General of Office of Administrative Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Policy_Dialogue/48th_ICE/Messages/afghanistan_MIN08.pdf * 2006: Was appointed as the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs. * 2008: Was appointed as the Minister of Education in Afghanistan.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wardak, Ghulam Farooq Education ministers of Afghanistan Parliamentary affairs ministers of Afghanistan Living people Pashtun people 1959 births