Former President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan HE Hamid Karzai heralding a new era of goodwill, understanding and co-operation, arrived in Sri Lanka on Monday (31) to attend the 'Defence Seminar - 2015'.
HE Hamid Karzai is to deliver the keynote address during the opening sessions on the first day (Sept 1) at Galadari Hotel, Colombo. Mr. B.M.U.D. Basnayake, Defence Secretary together with Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Crishanthe De Silva were at the Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), to warmly receive distinguished guests.
Mrs Homayra Ludin Etemadi, Advisor to the former president of Afganistan, General Mohamad Ali Adjmal, from Afghanistan Intelligent Cervices (AIC), Mr Sayed Ahamad Karimi, Personal Secretary to the former president, Mr Shah Mohammed Safi, Shift Leader, Mr Fahimudin Shohabi, Security Officer, Mr Mohd Hamid Yari, Chief of Protocol to the former President, Mr Aziz Ahamed, Security Head of Foreign Relations to the former President were also included in his retinue.
During his four-day long stay, HE Hamid Karzai is expected to pay courtesy calls on HE Hon. Prime Minister, Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe Hon. Minister of External Affairs, Secretary of Defence, Mr B.M.U. D Basnayake as parts of his itinerary in the island.
On Wednesday (2) afternoon HE Hamid Karzai is expected to call on the Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Crishanthe De Silva at the Commander’s Office for formal exchange of views.
The former President Hamid Karzai was born to a distinguished family of the Popalzai tribe of the Pashtun people in the Kandahar region of Afghanistan. His father, who served in the Afghan Parliament under King Mohammad Zahir Shah, was hereditary Khan or Chief of the Popalzai. Young Karzai attended schools in Kandahar and in the capital city, Kabul. He was studying in Simla, India, when his native land was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union. During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, the Western-educated Hamid Karzai served the resistance as an advisor and diplomat, winning the loyalty of the Mujahideen, or "holy warriors," who finally expelled the Soviets from Afghanistan. Mr Karzai extended his support towards the Taliban movement in restoring order, and served as the post of United Nations’ Ambassador.
However, Mr Karzai broke ranks with Taliban when the new regime fell under the influence of foreign terrorists and began to organize anti-Taliban opposition from a base in Pakistan. When his father was murdered in Pakistan, presumably by agents of the Taliban, Hamid Karzai, was selected to succeed his father as Khan of the half-million Popalzai. The act of defiance by leading a convoy of tribal mourners to carry his father's body home for burial in Kandahar, a stronghold of the Taliban, made Hamid Karzai the most visible leader of Pashtun resistance to the Taliban.
In October 2001, Karzai and three friends re-entered Afghanistan to raise a revolt and became the Chairman of the Interim Administration and in 2002 he was elected as the President of Afghanistan. As President, he survived assassination attempts and the efforts of extremists to disrupt the country's first national election. In September 2004, he was elected to a full five-year term as the first directly elected President in the country's history. Hamid Karzai's tenure as President faced enormous challenges. The re-elected President Karzai in 2009 confronted daunting military, political and economic problems.
With his second and final term as President set to expire in 2014, Karzai declined to sign a Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) that would have authorized a continued U.S. presence in Afghanistan. In September 2014 Ashraf Ghani was elected to succeed Karzai in the first peaceful transition from one elected government to another in Afghanistan's long history.
 |
 |
 |
 |
