Mirwais Yasini

Mirwais Yasini was born in 1962, in Kama district, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. His father, Abdul Sattar Yasini, was a respected Islamic academic and attorney. He attended primary and high school in Nangarhar, and became fluent in Pashto, Dari, Arabic, English and Urdu.[1]

After the Communist coup in 1978, Yasini and his family were among the most trusted influential politicians working in Afghanistan by that time, his uncle Shakoor Yasini was a very influential person against the soviet occupation. At that time Mirwais Yasini was a schoolboy and his uncle Shakoor Yasini was a religious scholar, but his uncle took hardly part in the battles during jihad, his famous practice is well known among locals, as he mastered the war and fought the Russian army as they reached the Mashreqi battlefield. His family is well known in Nangarhar Province.

For a period of 8 years (1993–2001), Yasini worked in active opposition to the Taliban regime as a social and political activist. As a prominent member of the anti-Taliban movement Yasini built his most enduring political relationships.

After the fall of the Taliban in 2002, Yasini was appointed as the first Director of the Red Cross in Nangarhar. Following this, Yasini was the Director of Foreign Relations and Economic Evaluation for the Ministry of Finance. Also in 2002, he was elected a member of the Emergency Loya Jirga, which met in Kabul.

In 2003, Yasini was appointed Director General of the Counter Narcotics Department of the National Security Council of Afghanistan. He was also an elected member of the Constitutional Loya Jirga and was elected as the first deputy speaker with the majority of votes. In 2005, Yasini was appointed Deputy Minister, Ministry of Counter Narcotics in the Government of Afghanistan.[1]

In 2005, Yasini was elected to the Lower House of the Afghan Parliament as a representative of Nangarhar Province. He is currently the leader of the largest parliamentary party in the Afghanistan lower house, the Afghanistan Parliamentary Party, and the First Deputy Speaker of the Lower House of the Afghan Parliament.[1]

In March 2009, Mirwais Yasini announced his formal opposition to the Karzai government, and declared his intent to run in Afghanistan's 2009 Presidential Elections, citing flagging public support for the Karzai presidency due to rampant corruption.[2] In a formal statement, Yasini described his vision for the future of Afghanistan:

I envision a peaceful, democratic, developed, drug-free, prosperous, sovereign and united Afghanistan. My mission is to spread democratic principles, development, freedom, social justice, human rights, effective governance, while strengthening the rule of law in Afghanistan, and coexisting with our neighbors in peace with respect for international law and conventions. ... I will effectively mobilize constituencies such as the National Assembly, Provincial Councils, political societies (parties), Civil Society Groups (NGOs, associations, media), tribal shuras, the private sector (the business community), local leaders (Maliks, Khans, religious scholars), and former Jihadi leaders and moderate Taliban to work for the interests of Afghans as well as those of the international community. – Mirwais Yasini, March 2009[3]

Preliminary results place him fifth in a field of thirty-eight.[4]