Afghan Biographies

Miraki, Mohammed Daud


Name Miraki, Mohammed Daud
Ethnic backgr. Pashtun
Date of birth 1967
Function/Grade Afghan activist, writer and politician.
History and Biodata

2. Previous Functions:
Teacher for Management and policy courses at the Chicago State University for over three years
Founder non-for-profit organization, Afghan DU & Recovery Fund

3. Biodata:
miraki_daudDr. Mohammed Daud Miraki was born 1967 in Kabul, Afghanistan and belongs to the Sulaimankhail tribe of Wardak Province. He was only 5 years old when his father, General Ghulam Sediq Miraki, was appointed the Intelligence Chief of south and south-western Afghanistan, stationed in Kandahar.

Miraki studied up to grade 6 in an elementary school in Kandahar. After completing grading 6 in Kandahar, his family moved back to Kabul where he completed grade 7 and 8. Escaping the soviet occupation in 1982, Daud and his family took refugee in Peshawar, Pakistan. He completed grade 9 at Syed Jamaludin Afghan High School, Peshawar.

After his father's assassination, he moved to Germany in 1983 where he stayed for a year. In 1984, Daud along with his family moved to Chicago, United States. He received his high school diploma from Senn High School in Chicago, in May, 1986.

Daud was admitted at the University of Illinois, Chicago, where he started to study biology. However, he changed his major to Political Science because of his desires to contribute to the betterment of Afghanistan. In 1992, he graduated with a BA in political science.

Daud Miraki received two Master’s degree. His first Master’s degree was in Political Science, specialization in International Relations, which he completed in 1993. His second Master’s degree was in Middle Eastern Studies, specialization in Conflict Resolution, which he received in 1996. In 2000, he completed his PhD in Public Policy Analysis.

He was a strong opponent of the Allied invasion of Afghanistan and lost his career as a professor by publicly researching the official explanation to the invasion. He has been critical of the use uranium munitions by US forces and was a witness for the International War Crime Tribunal held in Japan in 2004 which oversaw the conviction, in absentia, of President Bush.

He is a key player among Pashtuns with strong connections and a significant following. He also had close ties with the former Afghan King, Zahir Shah, and endorsed the campaign of Hamid Karzai in 2004.

Daud Miraki is known to be an ultra nationalist Pashtun and most of his election goals were focused on giving the ethnic Pashtuns and the Pashto language more rights. According to Mirakai, Pashtuns of Afghanistan make up around 65% of the total population. Thus, Pashto should be proclaimed as the first language of the state while Persian as the second language - not equal. He is also a strong supporter of the removal of Durrand Line and formation of Greater Afghanistan (annexation of North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan Provinces of Pakistan with Afghanistan).

Last Modified 2012-01-31
Established 2009-12-23