Afghan Biographies

Olumi, Noor ul Haq


Name Olumi, Noor ul Haq
Ethnic backgr. Pashtun
Date of birth 1941
Function/Grade Special Representative for good Governance
History and Biodata

2. Previous Functions:
Governor Kandahar
Commanding General 2nd Corps Kandahar
Wolesi Jirga Member 2005 MP MNA Kandahar
Minister of Interior (20150127-20160224 resigned)
Presidential Candidate 2019
Special Representative for good Governance (20200519)

3. Biodata:

Noor-ul-Haq Olomi was born on August 15th 1941 in Kandahar province, to a family from the Pashtun tribe of Barakzai. He graduated from the University of Kabul in 1966, with honors. Being a member of the Parcham political party at the time, Olomi trained for his future military career in both the United States and the Soviet Union. During the Soviet Invasion, Olomi fought with the communist army against the mujahideen forces, moving up the ranks to Lieutenant. After winning the Battle of Jalalabad, Olomi was made the new Governor of Kandahar by President Najibullah Ahmadzai. As governor, he made a lot of changes, such as changing the mandatory army inscription for Afghan boys, and ousting of certain warlords from the area.

In 1992, Olomi, as commander of the Kandahar Corps, surrendered Kabul to the mujahideen, and then fled to Landgraaf, Netherlands. After the Taliban overthrow in 2001, he returned to Afghanistan. In 2005, he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Kandahar province, a post he maintained till 2010, when he failed to get re-elected. Under President Ashraf Ghani, Olomi was nominated for the position of Interior Minister, a position that cannot be held if one has dual citizenship. Giving up his Dutch nationality, Olomi was confirmed as Interior Minister in January of 2015. In February 2016, Afghan media reported that Olumi submitted his resignation due to differences with other officials. His office denied the reports, but on February 24th, the Presidential Palace officially announced his appointment as Afghanistan's ambassador to the Netherlands.

 

Former General Nur ul-Haq Ulumi, a Pashtun, is a former interior minister. A former Communist Party member, he was a major figure in the 1980s, when he was a general in the Afghan Army. His running mates in Presidential Election 2019 are Bashir Bezhan, an ethnic Tajik who is a former journalist who founded a cultural magazine, and Mohammad Naim Ghayur, a former intelligence official hailing from the western city of Herat.

 

Olomi has two daughters and a son who currently still live in the Netherlands.

Ulumi speaks English and Russian fluently.

More detailed Background:
Former general Noor ul Haq Olomi Nur ul-Haq Ulumi belongs to the Pashtun Barazai tribe. He obtained his education in Habibia High School and during his military service, he joined the military university (Harbi Pohantoon) of Afghanistan. He also obtained professional education in Russia and the US. Ulumi graduated from the University of Kabul magna cum laude in 1966.He was the head of the Kandahar Army Corps during the communist Government and is the founder of the National united party (Hezb e Muttahed e Melli) which was founded in Kabul in 2003. Its still unachieved aim is “to bring together all (or at least many) of those groups and factions whose members were former communist PDPA (26 members). Originally from Kandahar, he belongs to the Olomi tribe was part of the Parcham faction of the Afghan Communist party which opposed to Khalq of Gulabzoi’s group. This career military was trained both in the United States and in the Soviet Union and he speaks fluent English and Russian. His Elder brother was one of the powerful generals in Najibullah’s government and was assassinated under the Mujaheddin. Ulumi, as commander of Afghan government forces in Kabul, surrendered Kabul in April 1992 to advancing mujahideen forces. He was in exile in the Netherlands during the Taliban regime (1992-2002).  Ulumi was elected as an MP for Kandahar Province in 2005, with 13,035 out of a total of 178,269 votes. The only candidate to receive a higher number of votes was Quayum Karzai, the elder brother of President Hamid Karzai, who received 14,243 votes. In 2010 Ulumi failed to be re-elected, failing to receive even 3,000 out of a total of 85,385 votes. There were also accusations of electoral fraud and vote rigging.

Gen. Noor-ur-Haq Ulomi has been nominated by the CEO Dr. Abdullah as Minister of Interior.(20150112) Rejected by Wolesi Jirga because of dual citizenship. (20150121) Ministry of Foreign affairs of Afghanistan (MoF) states that documents confirming the cancellation of dual citizenship of three National Unity Government nominees is confirmed. Noorulhaq Ulumi had a dual citizenship from Holland and Sayed Sadat Mansoor Naderi and Salahuddin Rabani had dual citizenship of England.(20150124)
He has a Netherlands Passport. From a total of 197 MPs present during Tuesday's Parliament session, 174 voted in favor of reintroducing (after he gave up dutch citizenship) Uloomi and 23 voted against.(20150127) Wolesi Jirga confirmed Nominee for the Ministry of Interior Affairs Noor-ul-Haq Ulumi with 131 votes, 91 against, 15 blank, and six invalid.(20150128)

Presidential candidate 2019 and Afghanistan’s former minister of interior Gen. Noorul Haq Ulumi also leads a newly established political party, Afghanistan People’s National Front (Jabha-e-Milli Mardum-e-Afghanistan).(20190319)

Olumi speaks Pashtu, Dutch and English.

 

Last Modified 2020-06-13
Established 2009-10-12