Afghan Biographies

Khuram, Abdul Karim Khorram Khurram


Name Khuram, Abdul Karim Khorram Khurram
Ethnic backgr. Pashtun
Date of birth 1963
Function/Grade Ex Government Official in Karzai Administration
History and Biodata

2. Previous Functions of Abdul Karim Khuram:
I
nformation and Culture Minister (2005-2009)
Adviser to President Karzai (2010)
Founder and Owner Kabul News TV (2010)
Chief of the Presidential Office and Chief of Staff President Karzai (20110326-20141000)
 

3. Biodata:
Khoram_Abdul_KarimAbdul Karim Khoram was born in Kabul Province in 1963 to a Pashtun family. He is a native of Saidabad District of Maidan Wardak Province. He completed his primary edudaction form Rabia Primary School and secondary education form Isteqlal Highschool in Kabul City and was then admitted to Polytechnical University Department of Architecture of Kabul in 1981. During the first year of his studies, he was imprisoned for three years by the communist regime in Pul-i-Charkhi Jail because of his involvement in anti-communist activities.

Therefore, he was not able to complete his higher educations at the Polytechnical University of Kabul. He migrated 1986 to Peshawar to stay there some· years as a refugee.

In 1991 he was awarded a scholarship to study in France. Khoram left for Paris, in 1991, where he received a masters degree in International law and Diplomacy from the International Relations Institute of Paris. While he was still in Paris, Khoram received a second masters degree from Rene Decartes University in Export Law. Afterwards, he taught at Eastern Languages at several French Universities for one year.

Karim Khurram is regarded by many as a Pashtun nationalist. Karzai appointed 2008 the conservative Khurram as minister of culture, replacing Sayed Makhdoom Raheen, who oversaw the expansion of free media after the fall of the Taliban. Khurram soon ordered the ban of the five indian soap operas after strong protests in Parliament over a recent televised awards ceremony on a private station, Tolo TV, that showed Afghan men and women dancing together, an activity that is virtually taboo in this country.  Khurram has defended his action, saying he did less than the Council of Clerics, or Ulema, had asked.

Subsequently after becoming minister, he removed the Persian sign on the ministry's building and now has it only in Pashto (Persian and Pashto are the two official languages of Afghanistan). On February 10, 2008, he suspended three journalists for five days and fined them five days pay for using the Persian word for university ("daneshgah") instead of the Pashto word ("pohantoon") in their Persian articles.

Khoram also scrapped initial plans to make the Afghan National Radio and Television into a public service run by an independent board. Abdul Karim Khorram suffered facial wounds and was being treated in hospital when a suicide bomber targeted a car in which he was traveling in the southern city of Kandahar. (May 17, 2007)

The former Palace Chief of Staff Mohammad Daudzai, Education Minister Farooq Wardak, and former Information and Culture Minister Abdul Karim Khoram are figures with maximum influence over President Karzai's decisions. (20101220). Mohammad Daudzai, Farooq Wardak and Abdul Karim Khoram have links to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami Party and provide advices to Karzai in favour of their party. Daudzai, Khoram, and Wardak were members of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami Party in the 1980s, during the mujahideen struggle against Soviet forces and they still have kept their tie with the party.

President Karzai appointed Khurram· as his Chief of Staff (20110326).· Khuram once called democracy a "baseless phenomena" and is again said to be a close a loyal supporter of Hekmatyar.

Karim Khuram, the Chief of Staff of President Karzai’s Office and Jawid Ludin, the Political Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, accused each other of spying for Pakistan and the US, Al Jazeera reported.(20120321)

Khurram  issued a warning to the president's press staff, ordering them not to allow US advisers in press conferences, one palace official said. The US embassy declined to comment for this story. But a US official based in Kabul confirmed the frustrations with the palace. "For the embassy, it is hard to get any access inside the palace since the chief of staff changed," the official said.(20120322)

Former Afghan Information Minister Abdolkarim Khorram said the US department of defense has bribed media outlets in Afghanistan to stage propaganda against the Fatemiyoun forces - that are not active in Afghanistan, but were fighting ISIL in Syria alongside Iran and other Resistance Front forces - to eventually damage the status and influence of Iran in Afghanistan.(20200711)

Abdul Karim Khorram, a close associate of former Afghan leader Hamid Karzai, founded the private TV network Kabul News. The office of Hamed Karzai funded the budget of this media, which had its own set of guidelines. According to a source, at least 60 employees of Kabul News TV lost their jobs as the private news channel stopped operations. Kabul News, a private TV channel in Afghanistan that had been in operation for ten years, has ceased operations owing to what it called “pressures”, without further elaboration.(20221931)

 

Khoram speaks Pashtu, Dari, French and English

Last Modified 2022-11-01
Established 2009-10-09