Karim Khalili

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]

Karim Khalili کریم خلیلی
Khalili in 2018
Chairman of the Afghan High Peace Council
Incumbent
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 74–75) Maidan Wardak Province, Kingdom of Afghanistan
Children	2
Profession	Politician, leader, former Mujahideen leader

Early life

Khalili was born in the Maidan Wardak Province of Afghanistan in 1950 as either Muhammad Karim Khalili or Abdul Karim Khalili^[5][2][6][7] and belongs to Hazara ethnic group.^[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]

Personal life

He has two sons, the older of which is Mohammad Taqi Khalili, Afghanistan's Ambassador to Azerbaijan.^[12]