Haron Amin

Who is Haron Amin?

Haron Amin was the Afghan ambassador to Japan and non-resident ambassador to Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore from 2004 to 2009. He is chiefly known, however, for his role as spokesman for the Northern Alliance during the U.S.-led invasion of his country after the events of September 11, 2001. A constant presence in American media prior to the Taliban's collapse, Amin was appointed chargé d'affaires to the United States by the interim Afghan government on 14 January 2002. He was the highest-ranking Afghan diplomat in Washington for a year-long period in 2002-03, before being appointed to the Tokyo embassy in 2004.

Amin was born in Kabul in 1969, but fled Afghanistan with his family during the Soviet invasion of 1979, eventually settling in the United States. He returned to his home country in 1988 to fight with the mujahideen under their commander Ahmed Shah Massoud, who assigned Amin to Afghanistan's embassy in Washington in 1990. Amin worked for the foreign ministry in various capacities until the government's fall to the Taliban in 1996. At the time of the Sept. 11 attacks, Amin was an employee of the Afghan mission to the United Nations, which was still in the hands of the pre-Taliban government.