Last updated by Abdullah Qazi on April 23, 2007
Former Interior Minister under Hamid Karzai. Ali Ahmad Jalali resigned from the position in late 2005 mentioning personal reasons. Jalali was quoted by Tolo Televison on September 27, 2005 as saying “I will not work as Interior Minister anymore. Maybe there are reasons for this and maybe not, but one of the main reasons is that I wish to resume my academic research”. However, many political analysts believe Jalali resigned due to conflicts with Hamid Karzai over the appointment of governors, other senior Interior Ministry officials, and counter narcotics-related issues. He left for the United States soon after his resignation and is still living there.
The biography below is from a government press release distributed by the Office of the Spokesperson of the President.
Ali Ahmad Jalali was born Kabul in 1940. He obtained his Bachelors degree in Political Science from the Afghan Military University, graduating in 1961. He later obtained a Diploma from the US Army Infantry Advance Course, in Fort Benning, Georgia in 1964. He received his Masters in Military Science from the Staff College in Kabul in 1966, and his PSC from the British Staff College in 1967. Mr. Jalali has served as a Professor at the Military University and Staff College in Kabul, as a Professor at the Institute of Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and a Top Advisor at the Afghan Resistance Headquarters in Peshawar during the Soviet invasion. He has an extensive history of work with the Voice of America, working as a writer, broadcaster, and Chief of the Pashto, Dari and Farsi services.
In 2001, he was appointed Director of the Afghanistan National Radio Network Initiative at Voice of America and Chief of the Pashto Service. In January, 2003, Mr. Jalali returned to Afghanistan where he was appointed Minister of Interior under the Transitional Government. The author of numerous books, strategic analyses, and articles, he speaks Dari, Pashto, English, French, and Russian and Tajik. Ali Ahmad Jalali was re-appointed Minister of Interior in December, 2004.