Abdullah (Afghanistan)

From Freepedia

Dr. Abdullah (born 1961) in Kandahar is the current Foreign Minister of Afghanistan. Like many Afghans, he uses only one name, though he is sometimes incorrectly referred as "Abdullah Abdullah".

Abdullah studied ophthalmology at Kabul University’s Department of Medicine and obtained his M.D in 1983. He worked as an Ophthalmologist in Kabul until 1985, after which he worked with Afghani refugees in Pakistan, where he came into contact with the anti-Soviet resistance. In 1986 he became an advisor to Ahmad Shah Masood. Abullah was the foreign minister of the Afghan Northern Alliance's government from 1998 onwards. In 2001 he was selected as Foreign Minister for the Interim Administration of Afghanistan.

He is generally considered to be, along with former Ministers Mohammed Fahim and Yunus Quanui, leader of the ethnic Tajik faction. Unlike many other former Northern Alliance officials, he was not removed from his ministerial post after the 2004 Presidential Election.