Afghan Biographies

Qanooni, Mohammad Younis Younus Qanuni


Name Qanooni, Mohammad Younis Younus Qanuni
Ethnic backgr. Tajik
Date of birth 1957
Function/Grade Ex First Vicepresident Karzai Government
History and Biodata

2. Previous Functions:
Secretary to the committee of Education in 1981, Representative of Massoud in Pakistan 1982-1988, Deputy Chairman for the Committee on Cultural affairs of Shura i Nezar's council in 1989,
Political Chief of the overall Jihadi Commanders Council on behalf of Massoud in 1991,
Deputy Defense Minister in the early ninetieth,
Minister of Interior in Interim Government,
Minister of Education in Interim Government,
Wolesi Jirga Member 2005 MP MNA Kabul,
Wolesi Jirga Speaker Chairman (200505),
Wolesi Jirga Member 2010 MP MNA Kabul reelected,
First Vicepresident Karzai Government (20140325)

3. Biodata:
QanooniMohammad Yunis Qanuni was born in 1957 in the Panjsher Valley. He hails from the Panjshir Valley's town of Rokha. He attended school from the age of seven at Imam Abu Hanifa High School in Kabul, where his father was a teacher. Leaving when he was 19, he went on to study Islamic law at the University of Kabul, earning a degree in 1980. Qanooni is known as moderates, reformist, modernist and top manager, studied Law and Sharia in Kabul University and doing his Master degree in sociology. He has a brother Haji Ibrahim who is a Secretary in the Kabul Ministerial administration was Qanoonis security Chief and his spokesman in 2004 in the Ministry of Interior.

During the 1992-96 government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani, Qanooni was deputy defense minister, then interior minister. He survived an attempt on his life in 1993 when a bomb blew up his car near Kabul City, that was blamed on Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. As a result of his injuries, he walks with a cane. Qanooni worked alongside Afghan national hero Ahmad Shah Massoud to resist the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and create the Northern Alliance.

Following Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001, Speaker Qanooni served as chief negotiator for the Northern Alliance delegation to the Bonn conference on Afghanistan After the Taliban fell from power, Qanuni served as the Interior Minister in Afghanistan's Interim Administration headed by Chairman Hamid Karzai. The administration was put together in Bonn, Germany in late 2001.

When Afghanistan's Transitional Government was formed in 2002, Hamid Karzai chose Qanuni to be his Education Minister, what he didn't accept. Close to the presidential elections in late 2004, Qanuni took his own path and declared himself a presidential candidate, challenging Hamid Karzai. Qanuni lost to Karzai, however, it was reported that when Karzai was putting together his new cabinet, Qanuni was offered the Ministry of Defense. Qanuni rejected the cabinet position, and instead decided to create his own political party (New Afghanistan Party) to challenge Karzai and allies in future elections. The majority of the former United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (UIF, Jabha-yi Muttahid-i Islami-yi Milli bara-yi Nijat-i Afghanistan), also known as the Northern Alliance (term used by the Western media), is now part of the United National Front (Afghanistan) which is led by Rabbani and includes many former leaders of the UIF such as Parliamentary Speaker Yunus Qanuni, Mohammed Fahim, Abdul Rashid Dostum, and Vice President Ahmad Zia Massoud.

The United National Front has positioned itself as a "loyal" opposition to Karzai. A number of former UIF members are however loyal to Karzai, notably Abdul Sayyaf. Qanooni came second after Karzai in Presidential Elections 2004. Younis Qanooni (former minister of education and national security advisor in President Karzai's 2002-2004 cabinet, as of mid-2005 the chief of Nehzat-e Melli, a political party, also known as Afghanistan Naveen). He was a second tier commander of Jamiat, Shura-e Nazar party of Ahmed Shah Massoud (killed on September 9, 2001). Human Rights Watch is listing him as a Human Rights Abuser.

Qanooni was reelected as a Wolesi Jirga Member 2010 MP MNA Kabul and bagged 2nd most votes.
He and Sayyaff stood for slot of the Chairman (Speaker) of Wolesi Jirga 2010. Both candidates failed to win the required number of votes on Saturday, 29. Jan 2011, creating a dilemma for the newly-inaugurated Parliament. Sayaf won 119 votes and Qanooni received 116, but once again they couldn't make it up to the 50+1 and the third round 30. Jan. 2011 did not show a winner.

Commission (2012): Legislative Affairs.


He has 29 bodyguards. (legally only being allowed to have four in his capacity as a Wolesi Jirga Member). (20120516)

Mohammad Younus Qanuni has been appointed as first vice-president. (20140318) The Afghan Wolesi Jirga or Lower House of parliament on 20140325 gave approval to Mohammad Younus Qanooni as first vice president to replace Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim who died of illness earlier this month.

Mohammad Younus Qanooni said that the current centralized political system in Afghanistan was not meeting the needs of the country as power has been monopolized within the presidential palace. With the current system, power has been centralized to the presidential palace and it has increased Afghanistan’s political, military and social issues. He suggested the current political system be changed into a mixed-system where a prime minister can tackle executive affairs. Qanooni stated that the centralized system has also been a reason for corruption in Afghanistan.(20170120)

 

Qanooni is married and has three daughters and three sons.
 

He speaks Dari Pashtu and English.

Hezb-e Afghanistan Naween (New Afghanistan Party) Leader:
Mohammad Yunis Qanuni Postal Address: 1st Road, Khair Khana Phase 1, Parwan Hotel Road, District 11, Kabul, Afghanistan Telephone: 0799353421

Last Modified 2018-02-22
Established 2009-10-12