Mohammad Arif Noorzai (born 1959) was a former minister of Border and Tribe Affairs for

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 ...

. He was elected to represent

Kandahar Province Kandahār ( ps, ; Kandahār, prs, ; ''Qandahār'') is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southern part of the country, sharing a border with Pakistan, to the south. It is surrounded by Helmand in the west, Uruzga ...

Wolesi Jirga The House of Representatives of the People, or Da Afghanistan Wolesi Jirga ( ps, دَ افغانستان ولسي جرګه), was the lower house of the bicameral National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, alongside the upper ...

, the lower house of its National Legislature, in 2005. He is the first deputy speaker of

and his current position is the Advisor of President Hamid Karzai for security and tribal affairs He is a member of the

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 ...

ethnic group, and the

Noorzai Nurzai also spelled as ''Noorzai'' ( ps, نورزئی) (meaning ''son of the light'') is the name of a Pashtun tribe, part of the Panjpai section of Durrani Tareen Pashtuns. The word "''nūr''" derives from the Arabic word for ''the light''. Wh ...

tribe. A report on Kandahar prepared at the Navy Postgraduate School stated he is first deputy speaker, and that he is related to President

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 ...

through marriage, and that he is a high school graduate.

Early life

Mohammad Arif Khan Noorzai محمد عارف خان نورزی was born in 1959 at Kandahar province of Afghanistan. Whilst going to school at the province during his early life, he studied Faculty of Agriculture at Kabul University but was unable to complete his studies due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. His family moved during the war towards

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

where they settled before returning to Afghanistan soon after.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Noorzai, Mohammad Arif Khan Energy ministers of Afghanistan Water ministers of Afghanistan Politicians of Kandahar Province Living people Members of the House of the People (Afghanistan) 1959 births