Abdul Rahim Wardak

General Abdul Rahim Wardak (عبدالرحیم وردگ) (born: in 1940, Wardak, Afghanistan) is the Defense Minister of Afghanistan. He was appointed on December 23, 2004 by Afghan President Hamid Karzai., Afghanistan: Monthly Review, December 2004 Before this appointment, Wardak was the deputy Defense Minister to the former minister, Mohammed Fahim. In the past, General Wardak was a national Mujahideen resistance leader who fought the Soviet forces during the 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan. He is an ethnic Pashtun from the Wardak province. His diplomacy has been instrumental promoting ethnic reconciliation due to his lineage from tribal chieftains with strong Pashtun relationships with all ethnic groups of the country. He is fluent in Pashto, Dari , and English, and as has many literal works in these languages.

General Wardak has testified in front of the U.S. Congress, and his counsel is regularly sought, on how to stabilize the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. He met with Richard Holbrooke in 2009, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, to discuss security with NATO's defense ministers and NATO's supreme allied commander for...
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