Pre Election Life
Following the Soviet Intervention of Afghanistan in 1979, Qanuni joined with the mujahideen force led by Ahmad Shah Massoud based in his native Panjshir Valley. A protégé of Massoud, he was involved in the creation of the Afghan Northern Alliance and served as Interior Minister in Burhanuddin Rabbani's government. After the assassination of Massoud in 2001, a trio consisting of Qanuni, Defence Minister Mohammed Fahim and Foreign Minister Dr Abdullah took defacto control of the Northern Alliance and its financial resources.
As a member of the Northern Alliance, he 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 Afghan Northern Alliance. In 2001, Qanuni served as chief negotiator for the Afghan Northern Alliance delegation to the Bonn conference on Afghanistan in Bonn, Germany.
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. Along with Fahim and Abdullah, Qanuni was seen as one of the dominant figures of the Transitional Administration
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. 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 Ministerial posts.
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