Haji Abdul Qadeer

Hajji Abdul Qadeer (; – 6 July 2002) was an Afghan politician and prominent Northern Alliance leader who fought the Taliban during the Third Afghan Civil War. Originally a commander of the Hezb-i Islami Khalis faction during the Soviet–Afghan War, he then served as governor of Nangarhar Province, the head of the Eastern Afghanistan Shura, and later Vice President of Afghanistan and Minister of Public Works in the administration of Hamid Karzai from 19 June 2002 until his assassination on 6 July 2002. He was the older brother of fellow anti-Soviet and Northern Alliance commander Abdul Haq, who was assassinated in late 2001 by the Taliban.

Early life Abdul Qadeer was born in 1951 in Jalalabad, Nangarhar Province. He belonged to the influential Pashtun Arsala family from Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. He was involved in Afghan politics even before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, Qadeer fought against them as a key resistance commander with the Hezb-e Islami Khalis faction. After the 2001 Bonn Conference on Afghanistan, Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai nominated Qadeer to be one of the Vice Presidents of Afghanistan, and Minister of Public Works.

Abdul Qadeer was alleged to have had connections with those engaged in Afghanistan's opium poppy trade.

Death On 6 July 2002, Qadeer and his son-in-law were killed by gunmen. In 2004, one man was sentenced to death and two others to prison sentences for the assassination.

Personal life Qadeer belonged to the very influential Pashtun Arsala family from the east of Afghanistan.