Abdullah Abdullah

  • Born: 1960
  • Place of Birth: Kabul, Afghanistan

Summary: Dr. Abdullah Abdullah was the leading opponent of incumbent Afghan President Hamid Karzai in elections held in August 2009. After Karzai's initial majority was declared invalid because of tens of thousands of disputed ballots, the two candidates initially agreed to face one another in a November 7, 2009 run-off election. However, as the run-off date approached, in early November, Abdullah announced he would not participate in an election he said would likely be just as corrupt as the first round. Abdullah, a medical doctor (ophthalmology), has long been a leading figure in Afghan politics. He is closely linked to the United Front (the Northern Alliance) that fought the occupying Soviet army in the 1980s and resisted the Taliban in the years after the Russian withdrawal. He was Afghanistan's foreign minister, under Karzai, from 2002 to 2006. Abdullah remained an important political figure in Afghanistan until the Taliban takeover of 2021.

Education: Kabul University's School of Medicine, M.D., 1983, specializing in ophthalmology.

Religion: Muslim.

Position, title, or affiliation: Candidate for president, 2009, 2014, and 2019. Chief executive, 2014–2020. Head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, 2020–21.

Activities:

  • 1984-1992: Served in various roles in the anti-Soviet resistance, both in Pakistan (where he cared for wounded mujahideen) and in Afghanistan with the Panjshir Valley resistance front, where he became a close advisor to Ahmad Shah Massoud, a highly regarded leader of the Afghan resistance.
  • 1992-1996: Spokesman for the defense ministry of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and later deputy minister of foreign affairs during the civil war that preceded the Taliban takeover of Kabul; later served as defense minister in exile.
  • 2002-2006: Foreign minister under Hamid Karzai.
  • August 2009: Came second to incumbent Hamid Karzai in the Afghan presidential election; denounced the outcome as fraudulent. A subsequent investigation declared enough Karzai ballots invalid to force a run-off between the two candidates.
  • 2014: Abdullah ran for president again in 2014 against Ashraf Ghani. After the election results were disputed, Ghani was declared the winner, while Abdullah was given the newly created position of chief executive, an office similar to the prime minister.
  • 2019: Abdullah ran for president in 2019. After Ghani and Abdullah declared themselves the winner, international pressure led to Ghani retaining the presidency and Abdullah being named head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, an organization created to foster peace negotiations with the Taliban.

2009 Election: On November 1, 2009, Abdullah declared he would not participate in the run-off scheduled for November 7, 2009. After that, the Afghan election commission announced it would not hold the run-off and declared Karzai the winner. Abdullah denounced that decision as illegal and said Karzai was not the legitimate president, thereby setting up potential political clashes in the future.

[Editor's note: There are differences in the style books of American publications on whether to refer to Abdullah by one name, by the construction like "Abdullah, who like many Afghans uses only one name," or as "Abdullah Abdullah," which is the most common usage. An Afghan embassy spokesman in Washington said he was born with a single name, Abdullah, but preferred the Western usage of two names, Abdullah Abdullah, which is adopted here. He is routinely called "Dr. Abdullah" since he trained as an ophthalmologist.]

Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, a former member of the Northern Alliance resistance movement and foreign minister under Hamid Karzai from 2002 to 2006, came in second in Afghanistan's disputed presidential election on August 10, 2009. After a substantial number of votes for Karzai were declared invalid, depriving the incumbent of the needed majority to avoid a second election, a run-off was scheduled for November 7, 2009. On November 1, 2009, Abdullah insisted there were no prospects that the run-off would be any more honest than the first round and said he would not participate. Shortly afterward, the Afghan Independent Election Commission announced that without Abdullah's participation, the run-off was moot. The run-off was canceled to avoid violence and save money, making Karzai the winner of a new five-year term without officially receiving a majority. Abdullah denounced this decision as illegal and said Karzai's presidency in a second term was not legitimate.

In declaring that he was not participating in the run-off, Abdullah pointedly did not call for protests by his supporters. Subsequent news accounts said that American officials, among others, called on Abdullah for restraint, promising he would have a role in a government of "national unity" under President Karzai. Initially, this was unlikely, partly because Karzai may have incurred obligations to regional warlords in exchange for their cooperation and support in the election.

The outcome of the prolonged presidential election seemed to preclude a government of national unity in the face of a rising Taliban insurgency and to complicate President Barack Obama's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan as requested by the US (and NATO) commander on the scene, General Stanley McChrystal. In his analysis, given to Obama three weeks after the Afghan presidential election, McChrystal emphasized the importance of building effective governance at all levels, from the national government in Kabul to provincial and local governing bodies.

Ethnicity: Abdullah's father, once a senator in Afghanistan, was an ethnic Pashtun. His mother was Tajik. In a country where ethnicity is often a key factor in political support, Abdullah is often perceived as a Tajik despite his equal claim to Pashtun identity. (By contrast, Hamid Karzai's parents were both Pashtun.)

Possibly of greater significance, Abdullah was closely linked to the United Front (also called the Northern Alliance in most Western accounts) during the prolonged civil conflict that followed the withdrawal of Russian troops in 1989 and eventually led to the Taliban establishing a government in Kabul in 1996. Ethnic Pashtuns have always dominated the Taliban, whereas the United Front/Northern Alliance was an alliance representing various ethnic groups, notably Tajiks and Uzbeks. Pashtuns were generally thought to comprise around 60 percent of the population; Tajiks around 20 percent; Uzbeks around 7 percent; and Hazara around 10 percent.

Abdullah has long been linked to Ahmad Shah Massoud, a prominent leader of the anti-Soviet mujahideen, who later became defense minister in the Kabul government that preceded the Taliban. Massoud was forced to evacuate Kabul and became a military leader of the United Front insurgency against the Taliban. Abdullah was a senior adviser and "foreign minister in exile." Massoud was assassinated by suicide bombers thought to be agents of Al Qaeda on September 9, 2001.

After the American invasion in 2001 and the naming of Hamid Karzai as president in December 2001, Abdullah served as foreign minister from 2002-2006. He was one of several cabinet ministers perceived to represent the former United Front/Northern Alliance and perceived to dominate Karzai's government. Abdullah, along with other cabinet members, was fired by Karzai in April 2006, at least partly to refute perceptions that the government was unrepresentative of the Afghan people.

Later Political Career: During the period after President Karzai agreed to a run-off and when Abdullah decided not to participate, there was widespread speculation that the two men might agree to some form of power-sharing that would include Abdullah joining the cabinet. Although Abdullah did not rule this out, Karzai did not appear open to the prospect. After Karzai was declared the winner of the presidential contest without a run-off, Abdullah declared that doing without a run-off was illegal and that Karzai was not the legitimate president since he did not win a majority of votes in any election.

This declaration appeared to be the opening round of a future political opposition. Abdullah repeatedly said he would not continue efforts to overturn Karzai's declared victory. Still, he said the incumbent lacked the means and will to effect political change, especially in rooting out corruption. At a November 2009 news conference, Abdullah repeated that he would not accept a position in the Karzai government, saying, "In this environment, I would rather act like a pressure group." On the other hand, news reports indicated that Karzai was making political deals with other senior leaders of the former United Front/Northern Alliance, possibly undercutting Abdullah's ability to form and lead an effective opposition movement.

Abdullah ran for president again in 2014, which ended in a dispute with fellow presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani after the results were called into question. Following international pressure, the dispute ended with Ghani becoming president and Abdullah becoming chief executive, a newly created position similar to that of prime minister. In 2019, a political crisis in Afghanistan resulted when Abdullah and Ghani declared themselves the winner of the 2019 presidential election. To prevent further instability, Ghani retained the presidency while Abdullah was named head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, an organization created to promote peace with the Taliban. Abdullah served in this position until the Taliban overthrew the Afghanistan government in 2021 following the withdrawal of US troops that same year. After living under close surveillance by the Taliban, Abdullah left the country for the first time since the takeover in early May 2022 to celebrate Eid al-Fitr with his family. Despite his history of opposition to the Taliban, Abdullah was one of the few leaders who remained in the country following the regime change. 

Bibliography

Anderson, Jon Lee. "The Man in the Palace." The New Yorker. 81:16. (June 6, 2005), 13p. search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tsh&AN=17254605&site=isc-live

Gall, Carlotta. "Afghan Parliament to Vote on the Cabinet." The New York Times, 20 Apr. 2006, www.nytimes.com/2006/04/20/world/asia/afghan-parliament-to-vote-on-the-cabinet.html. Accessed 10 July 2024.

Gibbons-Neff, Thomas. "In Aghanistan, an Unceremonious End, and a Shrouded Beginning." The New York Times, 30 Aug. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/08/30/world/asia/us-withdrawal-afghanistan-kabul.html. Accessed 8 Sept. 2022.

"'Taliban Are Welcome'" Newsweek, vol. 144, no. 25, 20 Dec. 2004, www.newsweek.com/taliban-are-welcome-123149. Accessed 10 July 2024.

"Who is Abdullah Abdullah? Afghanistan's Three-times Presidential Contender." BBC, 27 Sept. 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27138728. Accessed 10 July 2024.