Afghan Biographies

Khalili, Mohammad Karim Chalili


Name Khalili, Mohammad Karim Chalili
Ethnic backgr. Hazara
Date of birth 1950
Function/Grade Chairman High Peace Council HPC
History and Biodata

1. Former Chairmen High Peace Council:
Burhanuddin Rabbani (20110911)
Salahudin Rabbani (20120415)
Pir Sayed Ahmad Gillani (201603-20170121 died)
Mohammad Karim Khalili (20170604, 20180407)

Deputy chairperson of the Afghan High Peace Council (HPC):
Abdulrahman Salim (20170213)
Mrs. Dr. Habiba Sarabi (20170213)

High Peace Council Secretary:
Mohammad Akram Khpalwak (20170710)

Afghan High Peace Council spokesperson:
Sayed Ehsan Taheri (20180416)

2. Previous Functions
Speaker islamic Coalition Council of Afghanistan (1989)
Minister of Finance during Mujaheddin reign (1993-1995)
Vicepresident Interim Government Karzai (2002)
Second Vice-President , December 7, 2004
Chairman High Peace Council HPC (20170604)

Khalili's chief of staff :
Abbas Basir (20130108)

3. Biodata
Karim_KhaliliMohammad Karim Khalili is the son of son of Al-Haj Mohammad Aslam Khalili (died 20110805) and was born into a religious and well respected family in 1950 in Qala-i-Chesht Behsud, a district of Maidan-Wardak. Province.  He completed his secondary studies at a religious school.  Khalili is a Schia Hazara and a Shiite scholar trained in the Iranian "holy" city of Qom.

After the Communist Coup in 1978, Khalili was active in the resistance group Nasr. In 1981, Khalili became the Director of the Central Office of Nasr in Tehran, and was responsible for coordinating relations with a number of countries who were supporting Afghanistan's struggles. Six years later, he became a member of the Islamic Coalition Council of Afghanistan, and later its Speaker. In 1989, when the National Unity Party (Hezb-e-Wahdat) was established, Khalili served as a member of the Central Council, and for a time, as the Resident Representative and Spokesperson of the Party in Pakistan. He also served as Minister of Finance during the Mujahideen Government. In 1994, Mr. Khalili was elected leader of the National Unity Party. From that time until 2001, Mr. Khalili continued to rally his people against the Taliban until the Bonn Conference.

Kahlili is a vocal critic of the US "occupation." He was instrumental in persuading Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to publicly acknowledge Karzai's victory in the first round and congratulate him on his re-election. (Ahmadinejad was the only foreign leader to do so.)

Karim Khalili, is the leader of pro-Iranian Hizb-e-Wahdat Islami Afghanistan (Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan) In the early 1990s, HWIA, under the leadership of Abdul Ali Mazari, had considerable support among the Hazars. Mazari was assassinated by the Taliban when they captured Kabul in 1996.

Since Khalili took over, the party, which represents the Shia Hazara minority, has been on the decline. Khalili's military strength has been estimated between 15,000 and 30,000 men. Wahdat was the second most powerful military party in opposition to the Taliban. It was backed by Iran, who founded the party in the 1980s.

Former leader Ali Mazari mysteriously died in Taliban custody after Wahdat turned to them for help against the mujahideen government. The group maintained pockets of resistence in central Afghanistan after being driven out by the Taliban in 1998. In November 2001, Khalili's troops led the capture of the central town of Bamiyan, the site where the famous Buddhas that had been blown up by the Taliban.

Khalili was careful to distance himself from Iran following US accusations that Tehran was helping Taliban and al Qaeda members flee Afghanistan in 2002. Although Hazaras are predominantly Shi'a Muslims, a minority in Afghanistan but a majority in Iran, Khalili emphasized that he did not have a special relationship with Tehran. Hizb-i-Wahdat was supported by Iran throughout decades of war in Afghanstan. Until 1998, the Iranians gave economic and military support to Bamiyan and built part of a hospital there. Khalili termed such claims of aid from Iran as "propaganda" and denied receiving financial assistance.

Since becoming vice president in 2002, Karim Khalili has been isolated from his people, who back candidate Mohammad Muhaqiq, another Hazara who is revered as a hero and has the support of most Hazaras, roughly 19% of the Afghan population. Khalili returned to his home province of Bamyan in early August 2002 for the first time since leaving for Kabul. Once a warlord and now a deputy president of Afghanistan, Khalili is a major provincial leader who accepted the offer of a post in the transitional administration.

Residents of the province, one of the most deprived regions of the country, were hopeful that Khalili's decisions would lead to an improvement by channeling more money and resources into the area. Upon his return home, 2,000 of his people welcomed him at his headquarters in Hazarajat, a central district of Bamyan. He told local people not to expect too much of him, saying the rehabilitation of Afghanistan would be an uphill struggle as many regions of the country were as badly off as Bamyan.

Military officials in the region, meanwhile, are confident that Khalili's presence in the government would help end factional fighting in the Kuhmard region of the province, where Hizb-i-Wahdat militia clash sporadically with Jamiat-i-Islami fighters. In the past the military and logistic needs of Bamyan were fulfilled by Hizb-i-Wahdat fighters. Now the national defence ministry ensures that Kabul has a greater say in the province's security.

Haji Nabi Khalili (Kabul) is the brother of Second Vice President and leader of one of the split factions of Hezb-e Wahdat. Human Right Watch is listing Khalili as a human rights abuser. From time to time he is said to be involved in dubious businness affairs like selling Government Land.(20110602) Haji Nabi denied the allegations and emphasized that he bought 500 acres of land legally in the Dasht-e-Balwan area of Kunduz after approval by three different courts.(20130108)

Second Vice-President Mohammad Karim Khalili on 20110421 rejected a report about his role in the alleged seizure of state-owned land by the Onyx Construction Company as "untrue and misleading".

Khalili has been at the top of the natural disasters committee for several years, but has never attended the parliament questioning sessions. Wolesi Jirga disqualified vice president, Mohammad Karim Khalili as the head of the natural disasters committee.(20111022), when he rejected of presence in a questioning session. Parwan MP, Abdul Sattar Khawwasi asked President Karzai to appoint a person in the committee to be responsible and present in the parliament questioning sessions. “Unfortunately, Mr. Khalili has never attended our questioning sessions,” he said. Meanwhile, the committee deputy director, Mohammad Aslam Sayes says that the disasters committee should be led by the president, vice president or the prime minister to who are authorized to allocate extra budgets and announce the emergency situation.

Nigah TV is the property of Mohammad Karim Khalili, the leader of Hizb-i-Wahdat Islami. This TV  channel is popular amog the Hazara community. (20111226).

Reports said that the motorcade of Second Vice-President Mohammad Karim Khalili came under Taliban attack in Ghorband district of Parwan province. Khalili was on his way back to Kabul from a visit to Bamyan. The Presidential Palace, in a statement, said that Mr Khalili was unhurt in the attack, but 8 persons were killed. (20121013)

Muhammad Alem Khalili is running for a Wolesi Jirga 2018 seat from Kabul. He is the son of Muhammad Karim Khalili, the leader of another Hazara-dominated party, Hezb-e Wahdat-e Mardom, a former vice president and now chairman of the High Peace Council (HPC)(20181018)
 

Khalili is married and has five daughters and two sons. He enjoys studying literature and riding horses.

 

Hizb-e Wahdat-e Islami-ye Afghanistan (Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan)
Leader: Mohammad Karim Khalili Postal Address: Opposite Mokhabirat, Kart-e 4, Kabul, Afghanistan Telephone: 02501413

Last Modified 2018-10-18
Established 2009-10-09