Mohammad Asif Rahimi

Mohammad Asif Rahimi
Rahimi in April 2011
Minister of Agriculture of Afghanistan
Incumbent
Assumed office October 11, 2008
President	Hamid Karzai
Preceded by	Obaidullah Rameen
Personal details
Born	1959 Kabul Province, Afghanistan
Religion	Islam

Mohammad Asif Rahimi (born 1959) is a politician in Afghanistan, currently serving as Minister of Agriculture.^[1] An ethnic Tajik,^[2][3][4] he was born in 1959 and raised in Kabul,^[5] and obtained a degree from Kabul University before completing post-graduate studies at Omaha University in Nebraska.^[5] Rahimi moved to Canada in 2001, and returned to Afghanistan in 2005, where he joined the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, spearheading rural development and infrastructure regeneration. He was appointed to his current posting in October 2008 and was confirmed by the National Assembly of Afghanistan.^[6][7] Part of his Ministry's efforts have been focused on reducing opium production in Afghanistan, which is seen as critical to Afghanistan's development.^[8]

Asia Times reported that on November 17, 2009, two employees of the Ministry of Agriculture had the home they shared with their extended family raided by American special forces.^[9] Asia Times reported that the surviving cousin Majibullah Qarar had reported the capture and disappearance of the other ministry employee Habib-ur-Rahman, and the shooting of two other cousins, Hamidullah and Azim. A denunciation of Habib-ur-Rahman had triggered the raid. He was a computer expert who had traveled to Kuwait to study Computer Science, and his denunciators claimed he had been influenced by al Qaeda, while there. Asia Times reported that the Minister of Agriculture had personally appealed to the Americans for the release of his employee.

References

1. "Afghanistan - Central Intelligence Agency". CIA. 28 September 2009. Retrieved 24 December 2009.
2. "Afghan Government 2009" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). September 28, 2009. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
3. https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09KABUL4070_a.html
4. Rahimi, Mohamed Asif
5. "Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation & Livestock". Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock of Afghanistan. Retrieved 24 December 2009.
6. "Members of President Hamid Karzai's Cabinet". Afghanistan Online. 7 March 2009. Retrieved 24 December 2009.
7. Doucet, Lyse (7 February 2008). "World effort in Afghanistan under strain". BBC. Retrieved 24 December 2009.
8. "Afghanistan's Agriculture Minister Speaks to US Agriculture Experts about Teamwork". United States Department of State. 9 December 2009. Retrieved 24 December 2009.
9. Anand Gopal (2010-01-30). "Terror comes at night in Afghanistan". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 2010-01-29. Retrieved 2010-01-29.

External links

• Official Ministry Biography Page