Afghan Biographies
Spinzada, Mohammed Ibrahim Engineer
Name | Spinzada, Mohammed Ibrahim Engineer |
Ethnic backgr. | Pashtun |
Date of birth | |
Function/Grade | Ex National Security Council Official |
History and Biodata |
1. Deputy Chairman Head of National Security Council NSC:
2. Previous Functions:
3. Biodata Among all Karzai advisers, there was one man who has been indispensable to Karzai over the last 12 years—and the extent of his influence is largely unknown except to a small circle in the government who dub him “the shadow Karzai.” After the president, Ibrahim Spinzada, or “Engineer Ibrahim” as he is known, was one of the most influential men in Afghanistan. “Engineer Ibrahim’s word carried more weight in the government than anyone else’s—sometimes maybe even more than the president’s,” one former longtime aide to Karzai explained. Spinzada’s friendship with Karzai goes back decades, the aide said, and Spinzada was at Karzai’s side in the days following 9/11. “There is nobody closer to the president—not even his own brothers, his own family.” On paper, Spinzada—a lanky, balding, and bespectacled former aid worker—is the deputy national security adviser, but in reality he is much more than that. His second-floor office in the library-like headquarters of the National Security Council handles Karzai’s most secretive projects. But even inside the NSC, he is more of a myth; he never attends departmental meetings, depending instead on a small staff of confidantes—mainly Mohammed Zia Salehi, the NSC’s financial chief and onetime Situation Room director—to carry out these tasks. For years, Spinzada served as Karzai’s deputy intelligence chief, operating out of the presidential palace rather than the intelligence agency. He remained the president’s liaison with foreign intelligence services and controled one of the two slush funds the president relies on for paying off lawmakers and local strongmen (the other was overseen by Karzai’s chief of staff). He led efforts to incorporate senior Taliban leaders into the government in the early days of Karzai’s administration, and he was seen as the man facilitating Karzai’s contacts with the Taliban. His office had managed the release of Guantánamo prisoners in the past, and he visited the U.S. detention center in 2012 to speak to the five Taliban commanders recently exchanged for U.S. Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl.
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Last Modified | 2016-07-11 |
Established | 2009-10-11 |