Karim Khalili کریم خلیلی | |
---|---|
Chairman of the Afghan High Peace Council | |
Assumed office 6 June 2017 | |
President | Ashraf Ghani |
Preceded by | Ahmed Gailani |
Second Vice President of Afghanistan | |
In office 7 December 2004 – 29 September 2014 | |
President | Hamid Karzai |
Preceded by | Ahmed Shakar Karkar |
Succeeded by | Sarwar Danish |
Personal details | |
Born | 1950 (age 73–74) Maidan Wardak Province, Afghanistan |
Political party | Hezb-e Wahdat Islami Afghanistan |
Karim Khalili (Persian: کریم خلیلی; born 1950) is an Afghan politician serving as leader of the Hezb-e Wahdat Islami Afghanistan party.[1] Most recently he was Chief of the Afghan High Peace Council from 2017 until its dissolvement in 2019.[2] He was selected as a candidate for Second Vice President of Afghanistan in 2002 by Hamid Karzai; they were elected in 2004 and left office in 2014.[3] Since 1989, he has also been one of the main leaders of the Wahdat political party of Hazara.[4]
Khalili was born in the Wardak Province of Afghanistan in 1950 as either Muhammad Karim Khalili or Abdul Karim Khalili[5][2][6][7] and is of Hazara descent.[8][9] He attended religious schools during his childhood and moved to Kabul in 1970 to continue his education.[10] He participated in the Afghanistan resistance during Soviet invasion. He also served as Minister of Finance of Afghanistan during the Mujahideen government in the early 1990s.[11]
He has two sons, the older of which is Mohammad Taqi Khalili, Afghanistan's Ambassador to Azerbaijan.[12]