Sediqa Balkhi ( prs, صدیقه بلخی) is an

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

politician and former Minister in the government of

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 ...

Early life

Balkhi was born in 1950 in

Mazar-i-Sharif , official_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif , pushpin ...

Balkh province Balkh (Dari: , ''Balx'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country. It is divided into 15 districts and has a population of about 1,509,183, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a Persian-speaking society. The c ...

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 bordere ...

. Her father, Ismael Balkhi, was imprisoned multiple times in Afghanistan and ultimately poisoned. She completed her B.A. in Islamic Studies and pursued further education while staying in Iran. She taught for a while and worked as a manager. She was married at a young age and had six children. Her brother, Seyyed Ali Balkhi, was an economist who was killed during the reign of the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan.

Career

Balkhi led the Islamic Center for Political and Cultural Activities of Afghan Women during the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

rule, which was based in Khorasan Province, Iran. She moved to Afghanistan in 1991 where she continued her work secretly. In December 2001, she was one of three women who participated in the Bonn Agreement. She was elected twice to the

Meshrano Jirga The House of Elders or Mesherano Jirga ( ps, د افغانستان مشرانو جرګه), was the upper house of the bicameral National Assembly of Afghanistan, alongside the lower House of the People (Wolesi Jirga). It was effectively dis ...

(the Afghanistan senate). She served as the Chair of the Women's Affairs Committee in the Afghan senate. She served the Minister of Martyrs and Disabled in the Hamid Karzai government from 2004 to 2009. In 2005, Balkhi and Afghan army chief

Bismillah Khan Mohammadi Bismillah Khan Mohammadi (; born 1961, in Panjshir Province), or Bismillah Khan, is an Afghan politician who served as the defense minister of Afghanistan from 2012 to 2015 and for two months in 2021. From 2002 to 2010, he served as Chief of St ...

survived a helicopter crash. The crash is thought to be an accident.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balkhi, Sediqa Living people 1950 births 21st-century Afghan women politicians 21st-century Afghan politicians Afghan women's rights activists Hazara politicians Afghan Muslims People from Mazar-i-Sharif People from Balkh Province