Kabul Direct
President Karzai presented the idea of holding a national jirga at the London Conference earlier this year. The idea was welcomed by the United States, Britain, and other members of the international community and a jirga is scheduled to take place in Kabul, in traditional loya jirga tents on May 3rd. Some fifteen hundred participants from Afghanistan and the international community are expected to attend.
Kabul Direct
Ustad Mohammad Akbari is the leader of the Islamic National Unity Party of Afghanistan. He is also a member of the Afghan Parliament’s Judicial and Justice Commission. Mr. Akbari emerged as one of the leading Shia jihadists during the Soviet-Afghan war. He was also a leading commander in the Hazara Civil War. The founder of the leading Hazara political party, Hizbe Wahdat ( Unity Party), Mr. Akbari was the only Hazara leader to publicly reconcile with the Taliban during their reign of power. Later he said he did this so Bamiyan Province could live in peace. After the Taliban were ousted from power, Mr. Akbari continued to meet with Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader. Kabul Direct interviewed Mr. Akbari at his home west of Kabul in March 2010.
Kabul Direct
Nooruddin Allawi, a sociology professor at Kabul University, was born into a prominent religious family in Kabul. After
completing his education in Afghanistan, he did his postgraduate work in sociology in Iran. Allawi also heads the education department at Kherad Foundation, a Kabul-based charity organization. Kabul Direct interviewed him in April 2010 about the people’s lose of confidence in the post-Taliban administration in Afghanistan.
Kabul Direct
On March 24, Washington hosted a strategic dialogue and negotiations between Pakistan and the United States. The Pakistani delegation included foreign minister Shah Mehmood Quraishi, chief of staff of the Army Gen. Ishfaq Kiani, ISI chief Shoja Padshah, and defense minister Ahmad Mukhtar. The US delegation included the secretary of state, secretary of defense, chief of staff of the army and other senior officials.
Kabul Direct
Mullah Abdul Wasy Agha Jan Mu'Tasim has emerged as one of the Taliban’s most important leaders since the group fell from power in 2001. One of the group’s founders, he has since become the Taliban’s most important political and military strategist.
Kabul Direct
Fauzia Kofi, a member of Afghan parliament, is also a well-known women's rights activist.
Kabul Direct
Khalid Farooqi is a member of Afghan parliament and the leader of Hizb-e Islami Afghanistan, a registered entity in post-Taliban Afghanistan.
Kabul Direct
In mid-November, researchers from Kabul visited the spiritual center of the Taliban, the Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh, India. Their goal was to find out what the leaders in India think about what their followers are doing in Afghanistan and Pakistan. By Sharon Chadha and Waliullah Rahmani.
Kabul Direct
Mohammad Arif Rahmani, a leading Afghan politician, is a senior advisor to the Afghan government and an expert on Islamic jurisprudence and Afghan political parties.
Kabul Direct
Ramazan Bashardoost, a member of the Afghan parliament, was one of the leading candidates in the 2005 parliamentary elections, and again, in the 2009 presidential elections.
Kabul Direct
Mohammad Daud Sotanzooi, an Afghan MP from Ghazni Province, is an outspoken critic of the Karzai administration and one of Afghans leading lawmakers in the economic sphere.
