Amrullah Saleh facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Amrullah Saleh
|
|
|---|---|
|
امرالله صالح
|
|
.jpg)
Saleh in 2011
|
|
| First Vice President of Afghanistan | |
| In office 19 February 2020 – 15 August 2021 |
|
| President | Ashraf Ghani |
| Preceded by | Abdul Rashid Dostum |
| Succeeded by | Sirajuddin Haqqani (as First Deputy Leader) |
| Acting Interior Minister of Afghanistan | |
| In office 23 December 2018 – 19 January 2019 |
|
| President | Ashraf Ghani |
| Preceded by | Wais Barmak |
| Succeeded by | Masoud Andarabi |
| Head of the National Directorate of Security | |
| In office February 2004 – June 2010 |
|
| President | Hamid Karzai |
| Preceded by | Muhammad Arif Sarwari |
| Succeeded by | Rahmatullah Nabil |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 October 1972 Panjshir Province, Afghanistan |
| Political party | Basej-e Milli |
| Children | 5 |
Amrullah Saleh (born 15 October 1972) is an Afghan politician. He was the first vice president of Afghanistan from 2020 to 2021. Before that, he served as the acting interior minister from 2018 to 2019. He also led Afghanistan's main intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), from 2004 to 2010.
Saleh was part of the Afghan mujahideen during the civil war in Afghanistan. He later joined the Northern Alliance, a group that fought against the Taliban. In 1997, he became a key contact person for the Northern Alliance in Tajikistan. He worked with international aid groups and intelligence agencies. As head of the NDS, Saleh focused on gathering information about the Taliban. He also tried to find Osama bin Laden.
Saleh left the NDS in 2010 due to disagreements with President Hamid Karzai. He then started a political party called Basej-e Milli, which supported democracy and opposed the Taliban. In 2018, he became the acting Minister of Interior Affairs. He later resigned to become Ashraf Ghani's running mate for vice president. They won the 2019 election, and Saleh became first vice president in February 2020.
Amrullah Saleh was a powerful figure in Afghan politics. He has been the target of several attacks. He is known for being a strong critic of the Taliban and Pakistan.
After the Taliban took control of Kabul in August 2021, President Ghani left the country. Saleh moved to the Panjshir Valley. There, he announced himself as the caretaker president of Afghanistan. He also helped form the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, a group fighting the Taliban. Saleh later went to Tajikistan after the Taliban took control of Panjshir. He still supports the resistance from outside Afghanistan.
Contents
Early Life and Family
Saleh was born on 15 October 1972 in the Panjshir Valley region of Afghanistan. He is from the Tajik ethnic group. He spent much of his childhood in the capital city of Kabul. He became an orphan at age 7, which caused financial difficulties for his family.
Saleh is the youngest of five brothers. Two of his brothers died in political violence when he was young. His elder sister, Mariam, passed away in 2015. His brother, Rohullah Azizi, was executed by the Taliban in September 2021.
Saleh has three daughters and two sons with his wife. He speaks English very well and knows some Russian.
Political Career
In 1990, Saleh joined the mujahideen forces to avoid being forced into the Soviet-backed Afghan army. He trained in Pakistan and fought under commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.
In the late 1990s, Saleh was a member of the Northern Alliance. This group fought against the growing power of the Taliban. In 1997, Massoud chose Saleh to lead the Northern Alliance's international office in Tajikistan. He helped coordinate with aid organizations and foreign intelligence groups.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, Saleh helped lead intelligence operations. These operations were part of the effort to remove the Taliban government.
Leading the National Directorate of Security
In December 2004, after the new government was formed, President Hamid Karzai appointed Saleh as the head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS). This is Afghanistan's intelligence agency. Saleh worked to improve and rebuild the NDS. Many international experts saw Saleh and former interior minister Hanif Atmar as very capable government officials.
In 2005, Saleh sent NDS agents into Pakistani tribal areas. Their goal was to find Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders. They found some al-Qaeda members, but not Bin Laden in that specific area. In 2006, Saleh received information that Bin Laden was living in a town in Pakistan. He shared this with then-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, but no action was taken.
Saleh sent agents who spoke Pashto to gather information on the Taliban's activities in Pakistan. The NDS learned about militant homes, mosques, and families. In 2006, Saleh predicted that the Taliban would launch major attacks by 2009.
After the 2009 presidential election, President Karzai's views on security changed. This affected his relationship with Saleh. Saleh said Karzai felt unfairly criticized by the media and the West. Saleh and Interior Minister Hanif Atmar had strong disagreements with Karzai. Karzai began to refer to the Taliban as "brothers." Saleh and Atmar became increasingly isolated in the government.
In March 2010, US President Barack Obama visited Kabul. He wanted to improve ties with Karzai. Saleh told Obama that Pakistan believed the West was losing in Afghanistan. He suggested strong cooperation between the US and Afghanistan. This would prevent extremist groups from gaining power again.
In early 2010, a man claimed to represent a senior Taliban commander. He offered to start peace talks. Saleh's team checked his story and found it was false. He warned the government that the man was a fraud. However, the man still met with NATO and Afghan officials, including President Karzai. Later in 2010, it was confirmed that the man was an impostor, just as Saleh had warned.
On 6 June 2010, Saleh resigned from the NDS. Atmar also resigned as interior minister. This happened after a militant attack on a national peace meeting. No one was killed, and the attackers were arrested. Karzai had called Saleh and Atmar to discuss the attack. After the meeting, both men officially resigned. Their resignations caused concern among experts on Afghanistan.
According to Ambassador Hank Crumpton from the CIA, Saleh had "good technical skills and emerging leadership traits." He also described Saleh as "young, brilliant, honest, and devoted to a free Afghanistan."
Saleh and Atmar's resignations came amid major disagreements with Karzai. Saleh publicly blamed Pakistan for supporting the Taliban. He said talks with the Taliban should happen, but not at the cost of democracy. Karzai, however, was trying to make a secret deal with the Taliban and Pakistan. Pakistan had often asked Karzai to remove Saleh from his position.
The Afghan media widely covered the resignations. One newspaper headline asked: "Resignation of Atmar and Saleh: Accountability to the People or Tribute to Pakistan?" Saleh said he believed Karzai was a patriot. But he thought the president was making a mistake by relying on Pakistan's support. Saleh explained that Karzai's hope for a deal with the Taliban had weakened his allies. It also lowered the morale of Afghan security forces.
It was reported in 2010 that Pakistan's intelligence agency (ISI) and the Taliban saw Saleh as their strongest opponent. After resigning, Saleh founded the Basej-e Milli (National Mobilization). This movement supported democracy and opposed the Taliban.
After Resigning from NDS
In 2011, Saleh started a peaceful campaign. He warned that Hamid Karzai was losing focus on fighting the Taliban. He believed Karzai was seeking a compromise that could harm democracy and human rights. He called Karzai's policy a "fatal mistake."
Amrullah Saleh then founded the Basej-e Milli (National Movement), also known as Afghanistan Green Trend. This political movement became well-known in Afghanistan. In May 2011, many people joined an anti-Taliban protest in Kabul.
In December 2011, Saleh also criticized the corruption in Karzai's government. He warned that if the government did not fight corruption, 2014 would be a "year of challenges." This was when international troops planned to leave Afghanistan. Saleh stressed the need for major changes in Afghanistan's election commission.
Amrullah Saleh has spoken and written a lot about these issues. He believes the Taliban must give up their weapons. They must also respect the Afghan constitution before any peace talks.
In an article for the Wall Street Journal in 2012, he wrote: "Talks and a potential ceasefire may provide the US and its NATO allies their justification for a speedy withdrawal, but it won't change the fundamentals of the problem in Afghanistan. Striking a deal with the Taliban without disarming them will shatter the hope of a strong, viable, pluralistic Afghan state."
He also discussed the negative effects of politics on the Afghan National Security Forces. He warned that ethnic politics and internal divisions are serious problems for Afghanistan.
Saleh also warned about the future of Afghanistan's economy. He said that absorbing many unemployed young people would be very difficult. This internal stress could only be overcome if Afghanistan found new ways to earn money.
He also said that the Afghan Local Police should be made stronger. But they should be kept free from political influence.
Saleh explained why the West had not succeeded in Afghanistan. He said it was because they did not try to create a strong anti-Taliban group. He wrote that about 80 percent of Afghans oppose the Taliban. Such a group would be the best representative for Afghans in any talks.
Speaking at an event in Kabul, Saleh said the Karzai government and the US could not represent anti-Taliban Afghans in peace talks. He insisted that the views of the Afghan people must be considered. He also questioned if the Taliban were truly honest about peace talks. Opposition leaders have asked for a transparent peace process led by the UN. This is because they are worried about secret US talks with the Taliban.
In a 2013 article for Foreign Policy, Amrullah Saleh said the main problem in Afghanistan was the West's mistaken belief. They thought Pakistan would change its policies in Afghanistan.
He discussed the uncertainty among Afghans about 2014. This was when NATO was ending its combat mission. He mentioned that Afghans felt the US was funding both sides of the conflict. This was because Pakistan continued to support the insurgency. Amrullah Saleh also explained why NATO and the US did not want to confront Pakistan. He called for strengthening the Afghan National Security Forces. He stressed the importance of training and equipment. This would ensure that areas cleared of militants remained safe.
He concluded: "Maintaining military pressure on the Taliban is key for survival of the pluralistic state in Afghanistan. Otherwise, the democratic space will shrink, and the Taliban's bargaining power in future talks will increase further." He also warned that the US would make a huge mistake if it left Afghanistan to the Taliban.
On 3 May 2013, Amrullah Saleh's movement, the Afghan Green Trend, held a large demonstration. It supported the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). It also spoke out against corruption. The demonstrators chanted against the parliament's alleged corruption. They also criticized members of parliament who took bribes.
They ended their run at the Darulaman palace. They read a statement supporting soldiers defending the country. Amrullah Saleh said, "To the soldiers who are martyred in line of duty – you lost your lives, but your dreams live on." He also warned against using the country's security forces for political reasons.
On 9 June 2013, Amrullah Saleh spoke at a forum in Doha. He warned that the war between democratic forces and extremist groups in Afghanistan was not over. This was due to terrorist groups, conflicts with Pakistan, and the Taliban's growing strength.
As Interior Minister
President Ashraf Ghani appointed Saleh as the new interior minister on 23 December 2018. This was a big change in the government's security leadership. Media outlets said that Saleh's strong anti-Taliban views could help control the Taliban.
The New York Times reported that Saleh promised to reduce the influence of warlords over the police in Kabul. Saleh and other generals took steps like seizing vehicles belonging to powerful politicians. A nationwide rule was also put in place. It banned visible armed guards on pickup trucks unless they were military or intelligence officials.
Vice President of Afghanistan
On 19 January 2019, Saleh resigned as Interior Minister. He joined Ashraf Ghani's election team. After Ghani was re-elected, Saleh became the First Vice President of Afghanistan.
Fall of Kabul
| Amrullah Saleh |  |
|---|---|
| @AmrullahSaleh2 |
Clarity: As per d constitution of Afg, in absence, escape, resignation or death of the President the FVP becomes the caretaker President. I am currently inside my country & am the legitimate care taker President. Am reaching out to all leaders to secure their support & consensus.
17 August 2021
When the Taliban took control of Kabul, rumors spread that Saleh was hiding in Tajikistan. His office denied these rumors on 13 August. On 15 August, some reports incorrectly said he had fled the country with President Ashraf Ghani. Later that day, Saleh posted on Twitter that he "will never be under one ceiling with Taliban." He accused Pakistan of supporting the Taliban.
On 17 August, Amrullah Saleh appeared with Ahmad Massoud. Massoud is the son of anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud. Former Defense Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi was also with them in the Panjshir Valley. They were said to be forming a resistance force against the Taliban.
Panjshir Resistance
On 17 August 2021, Saleh declared himself the acting president of Afghanistan. This was based on the Afghan Constitution. It states that the First Vice President takes over if the President is absent, escapes, resigns, or dies. He also criticized US President Joe Biden and NATO. He tweeted that Afghans must prove Afghanistan is not Vietnam. He said the Taliban are not like the Vietcong. He urged people to "JOIN THE RESISTANCE." In another tweet, he confirmed he was inside Afghanistan. He said he was the rightful caretaker President. He was reaching out to leaders for support.
On 19 August, Twitter banned Saleh's and his party's accounts. Meanwhile, Taliban accounts remained active.
On 6 September, as the Taliban reportedly took full control of the Panjshir Valley, Saleh was said to have fled to Tajikistan. However, Afghanistan's ambassador to Tajikistan denied these reports on 8 September. Saleh's son told Reuters on 10 September that his father's brother, Rohullah Azizi, had been executed by the Taliban.
According to US intelligence, Saleh escaped to Tajikistan with Ahmad Massoud. This happened shortly after the Taliban took control of Panjshir on September 6. On September 29, the Afghan Embassy in Switzerland released a statement. It said the Government in Exile, led by Amrullah Saleh, was the "only legitimate" government. It stated that no "external force" would be accepted as the Afghan government. It also said that Afghan embassies would continue their work. And that the legislature and judiciary would start soon, with Saleh as president. Some former Afghan special forces also fled to Tajikistan with him.
Assassination Attempts
Saleh has been the target of several assassination attempts.
On 9 September 2020, Saleh was injured by a roadside bomb in Kabul. Ten people were killed in the attack. Fifteen civilians were wounded, including some of his bodyguards. The Taliban denied responsibility. Saleh posted a video on Facebook after the explosion. He had bandages on his left hand and burns on his face. Saleh said he was traveling to his office with his son when the attack happened. No group claimed responsibility for the bombing.
See Also
In Spanish: Amrullah Saleh para niños
- Ashraf Ghani
- Hasib Qoway Markaz
