Hafizollah Amin
alternative words: Amin
keywords: communism, famous person, statesman
related topics: Babrak Karmal , Muhammad Taraki , Muhammad Daoud , Najibullah Ahmadzai , Saur revolution
related web sites: http://www.afghan-info.com/politbiogr.htm , http://www.afghan-web.com/bios/yest/amin.html
explanation: Born in 1929 in Kabul province. After having got a master degree at Columbia University in New York, he became the principal of a teacher? training school at Kabul. During Daoud reign, he recruited many followers in the army in competition with Parcham faction. After Saur revolt of 1978, he became foreign minister then prim minister by ousting Parcham faction led by Karmal. He then ousted the president Taraki by a palace plot. With a complicity of Russia, he was assassinated in 1979.
Hamid Karzai
alternative words: Karzai, Afghan presidentkeywords: famous person, statesman
related topics: Kandahar , Soviet invasion , Burhanuddin Rabbani , Pashtun , Loya Jirga
related web sites: http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/kar0bio-1 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamid_Karzai
explanation: Born in 1957 to a powerful Pashtun tribe of Kandahar. During the soviet occupation, he worked as an anti soviet fund riser. After Soviets left Afghanistan, he served as deputy foreign minister for Burhanuddin Rabbani. When Taliban came to the power, he organized a resistance from Quetta in Pakistan. He was named as president of a transitional government by Bonn agreement of 2001, then confirmed by Loya Jiga of 2002. He is expected to become officially the president by a coming election of October 2004.
Hazara
alternative words: Hazaras
keywords: race
related topics: Afghanistan
related web sites: http://www.hazaraonline.f2s.com , http://www.hazara.net
explanation: Hazaras are a minority living in the central region of Afghanistan and speaking Persian language (Farsi). Though they are considered an indigenous population of Afghanistan, they represent now merely 10% of the total population. A great number of Hazars were massacred during the civil war because there are Shiite Moslems like Iranians.
Herat
alternative words: Herat city, Harat
keywords: town
related topics: Taliban , Ismail Khan
related web sites: http://www.geocities.com/afghanistan_ca/Herat.html
explanation: Capital of Herat province in western Afghanistan and its third largest city. It is on a fertile plain irrigated by Harirud river. Herat should be founded by Alexander the great in 4th century BC. It was the capital of Tamerlane in 14th century. Its ownership was disputed with Iran and definitively settled in 1863. Hundreds of civilians were massacred after an anticommunist uprising in 1979. Herat fell to the hand of Taliban in 1995. The population is 160,000.
Hezb e Islami
alternative words: Hezb i Islami, Hezbi Islami, Islamic party
keywords: islam, organization
related topics: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar , Muhammad Daoud
related web sites: http://www.hezb-e-islami.org
explanation: Daoud's iron fist policy forced Hekmatyar to flee to Peshawar. He founded there an Islamic party, Hezb e Islami in 1975 to organize a resistance against Doud then communist regimes thanks to an aid from Pakistan. After the fall of Kabul in 1992, he tried to overthrow Rabbani's regime by launching rocket attack to Kabul. After a takeover of Kabul by Taliban in 1996, they had to be reconciled but meantime, Pakistan changing their support to Taliban, Hezb e Islami has lost influence.
ISI
alternative words: Inter services intelligence, Pakistani secret service, Secret servicekeywords: organization, pakistan
related topics: Taliban
related web sites: http://www.fas.org/irp/world/pakistan/isi/
explanation: Pakistani secret service founded in 1948 by a British officer. Due to perpetual conflicts with the neighboring countries, i.e. India and Afghanistan, its power has considerably increased and become a state inside a state with 10,000 members and an own financial circuit. ISI is accused for having helped Taliban to conquer Afghanistan by training their members and giving a financial aid.
Ismail Khan
alternative words: Ismael Khan, Lion of Herat
keywords: famous person, statesman
related topics: Herat , United front
related web sites: http://www.afghan-web.com/bios/today/ikhan.html
explanation: Born in 1946 in Farah province of western Afghanistan. After having graduated at a military academy, he served as lieutenant in an army stationed at Herat. In 1979 he defected from the army and participated to an anticommunist riot at Herat. He then fled to Pakistan and joined Jamiat i Islami of Rabbani to fight against communists. After the liberation, he was appointed the governor of Herat province but drove out by Taliban in 1995. He fights now with United front.
Jalalabad
alternative words: Jalalabad city
keywords: town
related topics: Kabul , Khyber pass
related web sites: http://www.geocities.com/afghanistan_ca/Jalalabad.html , http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/23884.html
explanation: Capital of Nangarhar province, lying 150 km east of Kabul on a fertile valley, Jalalabad is occupying a strategic place on the road to Pakistan via Khyber pass. People are cultivating orange, rice and sugarcane and it was a prosperous winter resort during prewar period. Hada located near Jalalabad had been a great center of Gandhara's Buddhism culture between 2th and 7th centuries. During the first Afghan war in 1842, Afghan rebels laid siege to British troops.
Jamiat i Islami
alternative words: Islamic society
keywords: islam, organization
related topics: Muhammad Daoud , Burhanuddin Rabbani , Ahmad Shah Masoud
explanation: Initially a club of Koran reading at Kabul university, it became a radical movement against communism popular among students when Rabbani was appointed head of the party in 1972. After a ban of Islamic parties by Daoud, Rabbani fled in 1974 to Peshawar to organize a resistance with other members of party such as Masoud. After the fall of communist regime in 1992, Rabbani became the president of Afghanistan but Hekmatyar opposed him. Rabbani was driven out from Kabul by Taliban in 1996.
