Dr. Abdullah Abdullah
The Situation in Afghanistan and “The Way Forward”
May 25, 2010

Dr. Abdullah Abdullah is a major political figure in Afghanistan today. He was a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, a candidate in the 2009 Afghan presidential election and current leader of his political party “Coalition for Hope and Change. Dr. Abdullah has worked with Afghan Refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan, and was also the Director of Healthcare for the Resistance Front and the special advisor and close confidant of the legendary Commander and National Hero of Afghanistan, Late Ahmad Shah Masoud. In 2001, during the historic Intra-Afghan talks in Bonn, Germany, Dr. Abdullah was selected as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Interim Administration of Afghanistan. He has also served as Secretary General of the Massoud Foundation. In 2009 Dr. Abdullah ran a highly impressive and dynamic Presidential campaign under the slogan of “Change” to institute needed reform and to change Afghanistan’s system of governance from a Presidential to a Parliamentary system. The election results were vigorously contested due to voter fraud. On November 1, 2009, Dr. Abdullah announced that he would not participate in the second round of the Presidential elections citing his lack of faith in President Karzai government’s ability to hold a “fair and transparent” election process.