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Yunus Qanuni (يونس قانوني, also transliterated Qanooni and Qanouni) (born 1957) is an Afghan politician.
An ethnic Tajik from the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan, Qunani is an Islamic religious conservative who been working to organize a new political party to appeal to those Afghanis not part of the majority Pashtun ethnic group. He calls his party Mehez-e-Milli (Afghan National Party).
Involvement in the United States invasion of Afghanistan
As a member of the Northern Alliance, he strongly supported the United States invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, but opposed Pakistani involvement, as Pakistan favored a reformed Taliban government rather than a new government based upon the Northern Alliance. He is closely associated with the political faction of the late Ahmad Shah Masood, assassinated in 2001.
In 2001, Qanuni served as chief negotiator for the Northern Alliance delegation to the Bonn conference on Afghanistan in Bonn, Germany.
Recent Activities
Immediately after the fall of the Taliban government, Qanuni was interior minister in an interim administration. He was eventually made the education minister in the Afghan Transitional Administration (established in June 2002), and served as a security advisor to interim President Hamid Karzai.
Elections for a permanent government were scheduled for 2004. When Qanuni's ally Mohammed Fahim was passed over as vice-presidential running mate of Karzai, Qanuni entered the race for the presidency himself. During a campaign rally in Kabul, Qanuni accused Karzai's supporters of jailing his campaign supporters in northern Baghlan and Konduz provinces. On October 5 2004, Qanuni's campaign supporter, Abdul Aziz, was assassinated while in Shindand, Afghanistan.
In the election, held October 9 2004, he placed second to Karzai. On December 23 2004, the newly-inaugurated Karzai announced his administration, and both Qanuni and Fahim were dropped from their posts.
Quotes
"My candidacy is not to obtain positions, it is to save Afghanistan, to build a government of the future of Afghanistan. So no post and position can stop me from my determination."
-August 2004
External Sources
Agence France Press
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