Haji Abdul Qadir (1951-6 July 2002) was Vice President of Afghanistan from October 2001 to 6 July 2002. Born to the influential Arsala family, he was brother of Abdul Haq, and the two fought against the Taliban as Northern Alliance commanders.
Biography[]
Qadir was born in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and was the half-brother of Abdul Haq; the two were of the influential Pashtun Arsala family. In the 1980s he fought against the Soviet Union's invasion of his country, and in the aftermath of the Soviet withdrawal he served as Governor of Nangarhar in eastern Afghanistan.
From 1992 to 1996 Qadir was the governor of the city, but when the Taliban took power, he became one of the Northern Alliance resistance commanders that fought against the extremist government. Alongside his brother, he became one of the most-important commanders in the alliance. When the United States invaded Afghanistan in November 2001 and restored the Northern alliance to ruling the country, Qadir became the new Vice President.
On 6 July 2002, Qadir was shot by Taliban gunmen in Kabul and killed.