[ Afghan Elections 2004-2005 ]

2. Hamid KARZAI
Born: 1957 (Hegira 1336) in the southern Kandahar Province
Political Affiliation: independent
Presidential Bid Supported By: Afghan Nation (aka Afghan Social Democratic Party); National Solidarity Movement of Afghanistan; Republican Party; National United Party of Afghanistan; Islamic Justice Party of Afghanistan; Youth National Solidarity Party of Afghanistan
First Vice-Presidential Running Mate: Ahmad Zia Mas'ud
Second Vice-Presidential Running Mate: Mohammad Karim Khalili Ma'sumi

President Hamid Karzai has essentially run the country since the Bonn agreement in December 2001, and became the country's first-ever directly elected head of state after garnering 55 percent of the presidential vote in October 2004. His five-year term began in December.
    The compromise leader of the interim government ushered in by the Bonn agreement, Karzai is an ethnic Pashtun with a natural power base in southern Afghanistan, where he rallied forces to help oust the Taliban during U.S.-led air strikes in late 2001.
    Karzai then served as the chairman of the Afghan Transitional Administration that was confirmed by a mid-2002 loya jirga. He enjoys broad support in the West, where he is seen as a moderate on religious issues, a free-marketeer on economic issues, and a staunch advocate of women's rights.
    In spelling out his presidential platform during campaigning in the fall of 2004, Karzai cited the "complete destruction" that had been wrought on the country by "the Russian invasion, thieves, the Taliban movement, and terrorism" by the time his interim administration took office. He conceded lingering shortcomings that included a lack of stability and security; a failure to combat adequately corruption and other forms of official abuse; the absence of a fully formed national army, police force, and border guards; and too little investment into reintegrating mujahedin (war veterans) back into civilian life.
    But Karzai also set out as overarching goals a "strengthening of the system, stability, and security." His proposed formula includes a mix of infrastructure improvements and public-works programs, economic measures aimed at boosting private investment and more than doubling the average income in five years, and major spending to enhance education and health care and to provide for the country's war veterans, whose number is estimated to be in the millions. He has also vowed to fight the cultivation of crops used to produce illegal drugs and the trade in such substances, subsequently declaring a "jihad" against the trade in illegal drugs.
    Ahead of the 2004 presidential vote, Karzai urged rival Mohammad Yunos Qanuni to "come back and give up his candidacy" in a move that some interpreted as a sign of the potential challenge that Qanuni might represent (AFP).
    The powerful Afghan Nation (aka Afghan Social Democratic Party [Afghan Mellat]) backed Karzai for president (Radio Afghanistan), in addition to the newly formed Republican Party, the National United Party of Afghanistan (Hizb-e Mutahed-e Melli-ye Afghanistan), the Islamic Justice Party of Afghanistan (Hizb-e Addalat-e Islami-ye Afghanistan) ("Hewad"), and the Youth National Solidarity Party of Afghanistan ("Erada").
    Critics and rivals accused Karzai of improperly using government resources to further his presidential campaign and said he should have stepped down ahead of the vote, citing a clause in the electoral law that states that "members of the government...who want to be candidates to the posts of the Presidential, National Assembly, and Provincial and District Councils, are required to tender their resignations 75 days prior to the [presidential] elections." Karzai responded to such calls by saying that Article 161 of the Afghan Constitution states that the head of state is to remain in office until the new president assumes those responsibilities.
    Karzai rejected an invitation by the Taliban in 1995 to represent that government at the United Nations despite his initial support for the movement. He later openly opposed the Taliban, citing their strict interpretation of Islamic law (Shari'a) and accusing them of dependency on foreign support (Adamec, p. 213).
    Hamid Karzai is the son of Abdul Ahad Karzai, a leader of the Popalzai Durranis and a member of the 1964 loya jirga and parliamentarian (1964-73) who presided over the Afghan national council. Hamid Karzai's resolve to see the ouster of the Taliban regime is said to have stiffened when his father was killed in 1999 while in self-exile in Quetta, Pakistan, presumably by elements allied with the Taliban.
    Karzai organized Pashtun resistance to the Taliban government in Oruzgan Province following the U.S.-led military intervention in Afghanistan in late 2001, eventually proving "instrumental in the defeat of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan" (Adamec, p. 213).

SOURCES: JEMB; RFE/RL; Radio Free Afghanistan; Ludwig W. Adamec, "Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan"; Martin Ewans, "Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and Politics"; and as noted.