Abdul Qadir

Who was Abdul Qadir?

Abdul Qadeer was a very powerful Pashtun leader in Afghanistan who was the head of Eastern Afghanistan Shura and later Vice President of Afghanistan and Minister of Public Works in the administration of Hamid Karzai from late 2001 until his assassination in 2002.

Qadeer belonged to the influential Pashtun Arsala family from the Afghan province of Nangarhar in eastern Afghanistan. His brother was the anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban resistance leader Abdul Haq, who was executed in late 2001 by the Taliban. From 1992 to 1996, before the Taliban gained power, Abdul Qadeer was the governor of Nangahar province.