Abdul Rahim Ghafoorzai

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Abdul Rahim Ghafoorzai
Burhannudin Rabbani
Preceded byNajibullah Lafraie
Succeeded byMohammad Ghous (Islamic Emirate) continues serving
Personal details
Born1947[citation needed]
Died21 August 1997
Bamyan, Afghanistan

Abdul Rahim Ghafoorzai (c.1947 – 21 August 1997) was a politician and diplomat of

Pashtun, a member of the Barakzai Mohammadzai
tribe.

During the 1970s he entered the Afghan foreign service. He was sent to the United States to represent the political administration supported by the Soviet Union. As the ambassador to the United Nations, Ghafoorzai thought it his duty to call on global partners to denounce the Soviet invasion in 1979. From then until 1992, he worked to encourage international opposition to the regime that the Soviets had set up in Afghanistan.

When the communist government fell in 1992, Ghafoorzai acted as an intermediary to unite the contending factions. He worked in the

foreign minister
in July 1996.

In September 1996 the government troops withdrew from Kabul and the

Mazar e Sharif
in the north of Afghanistan, meanwhile the Afghanistan embassies and the permanent mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations were in control of Islamic State of Afghanistan as the legitimate representative of Afghanistan. Ghafoorzai continued as Afghanistan's foreign minister until 11 August 1997.

Just ten days before his death, he was appointed prime minister of the Islamic State of Afghanistan government. He was killed in a plane crash in Bamyan Province where he was going to negotiate with allies to form his cabinet.

References

Political offices
Preceded by — DISPUTED —
Foreign Minister of Afghanistan
1996–1997
Disputed by Mohammad Ghous
Reason for dispute:
Afghan Civil War (1996–2001)
Succeeded by
Mohammad Ghous
(Islamic Emirate)
continues serving
Preceded by — DISPUTED —
Prime Minister of Afghanistan
1997
Disputed by Mohammad Rabbani
Reason for dispute:
Afghan Civil War (1996–2001)
Succeeded by
Mohammad Rabbani
(Islamic Emirate)
continues serving