Abdullah Abdullah

Who is Abdullah Abdullah?

Abdullah Abdullah is a politician in Afghanistan and a doctor of medicine. He was an adviser and a close friend of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Northern Alliance leader and commander known as the "Lion of Panjshir," who was assassinated in September 2001. After the fall of the Taliban regime, Dr. Abdullah served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan from 2001 until 2005. During the Jihad time Abdullah was the bodyguard of Ahmad Shah Masoud in Panjshir.

In 2009, Abdullah ran as an independent candidate in the Afghan presidential election and came in second place with 30.5% of the total votes. On November 1, 2009, Abdullah quit the runoff election that would have taken place six days later, on November 7, due to allegations of electoral fraud. In 2010, he created the Coalition for Change and Hope, which is one of the leading democratic opposition movement in Afghanistan. In 2011, the coalition was transformed into the National Coalition of Afghanistan, which is supported by dozens of Afghan political parties and members of parliament challenging the government of Hamid Karzai. He is currenly one of the ten qualified candidates in the 2014 presidential election, which is expected to be held in April of 2014.