Bios of Other Presidential Candidates
His family originates from the village of Karz (hence the name Karzai), outside Kandahar. Born on December 24, 1957, he has an M.A. in political science and international relations from Shimla University, India. During the years of war against the Soviet-backed communist regime, Karzai worked for the Afghan National Liberation Front (Mojaddedi) and the Afghan Interim Government in diverse capacities.
When the Mujaheddin took over Kabul in April 1992, Karzai was appointed Deputy Foreign Minister and worked in that capacity until such time he was jailed under suspicion by Massoud that he was leading political activities detrimental to the Rabbani Government.
Later in the year 1994, because of his family ties in the Kandahar area and his long-standing contacts with some US Intelligence operators in the region, he played a not to be dismissed role in the creation and thrive of the Taliban movement. Karzai says now that he later distanced himself from them, but still not long before the Taliban fell from power, Karzai was seriously considering the offer made by the mullah Omar to represent them in New York and attempt to seize Afghanistan’s UN seat from Dr. Rawan Farhadi, a Rabbani appointee.
Soon after the launch of the US-led attack on October 7, 2001 to derail the Taliban from power and destroy Al-Qaeda, Karzai was rapidly prompted by the US to be viewed as a challenger to mullah Omar. He was sent inside Afghanistan with a US Special Operations team. In Bonn (December 2001), Zalmay Khalilzad, George W. Bush’s special envoy, imposed Karzai to lead the interim authority. Since then Karzai enjoys the full backing of the Bush Administration and everyone of his moves – political and physical - are coordinated with the American expeditionary forces in Afghanistan.