Abdul Zahir (Afghan Prime Minister)

Infobox Prime Minister
name = Abdul Zahir
honorific-suffix =
MD


order = Prime Minister of Afghanistan
monarch = Mohammad Zahir Shah
term_start = 09 June 1971
term_end = 12 December 1972
predecessor = Mohammad Nur Ahmad Etemadi
successor = Mohammad Musa Shafiq
birth_date = 1910
birth_place = Laghman, Afghanistan
death_date = 1983
death_place =
party = IndependentDr. Abdul Zahir (1910 - 1983) was a Prime Minister of Afghanistan during the reign of King Zahir Shah.

Zahir was born in Laghman, Afghanistan. He attended secondary school in Kabul and university in the United States of America earning an MD from Columbia University and Master's degree in Public health from Johns Hopkins University. He became a medical doctor and returned to Afghanistan to practice medicine, but eventually entered politics. His political positions included terms as Minister of Health, President of the Parliament and Ambassador to Italy and Pakistan. Most prominently, he served as Prime Minister of Afghanistan from June 1971 to December 1972. A few months after he resigned from that post, Zahir Shah was overthrown and Abdul Zahir had to retire from politics.

Zahir was married to Quraisha and had four children. His son Ahmad Zahir was a popular musician. His daughter, Zahira Zahir, is a hairdresser in Washington, DC.cite news
url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804E2DB1331F933A15750C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
title= Kabul Journal; The Afghan Elvis 'Lives' 24 Years After His Death
publisher=New York Times
author=Amy Waldman
date=March 20, 2003
accessdate=2008-02-03] cite news
url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/thomson200509200821.asp
title=Above & Beyond: Profiles of Afghan commitment
publisher=National Review
author=John R. Thomson
date=September 20, 2005
accessdate=2008-02-03] cite news
url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/02/sm.04.html
title=The Life of the President's Barber
publisher=CNN
date=December 2, 2001
accessdate=2008-02-03] His eldest son, Asif Zahir (1932-2000) was also politically active during his lifetime as Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development in 1980s and he remained ambassador in Kuwait (1989-1992) and Italy (1992-1993). He resigned from his post and lived in Peshawar, Pakistan, where he started a campaign for peace in Afghanistan by setting up a political group called the Afghan National Movement (ANM).

References

External links

* [http://www.zahiraschools.org/background.html Zahira's School - My Story]