1. Haneef Atmar served as the Minister of interior until he was removed from the Ministry by Hamid Karzai in the wake of attacks on the June 2010 Afghan Peace Jirga.
10 Facts About Haneef Atmar
1. 2.
In late 2018, Haneef Atmar announced his candidacy for the April 2019 presidential elections, indicating he firmly believes a peace deal with the Taliban is possible.
3.
Haneef Atmar fled to Turkey after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021.
4.
Haneef Atmar was born in 1968 as son of Mohammad Asef Haneef Atmar in Laghman Province of Afghanistan to an aristocratic Pashtun family.
5.
In 1992 Haneef Atmar began advising on Afghanistan and Pakistan for humanitarian agencies, which he would continue for two years.
6.
That same year he was hired as the Deputy Director General of the International Rescue Committee for Afghanistan, but after the September 11th attacks, the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan, and the Bonn Agreement creating an Afghan Transitional Authority under Hamid Karzai, Haneef Atmar left to join the new government.
7.
In May 2006, Haneef Atmar was sworn in as the Minister of Education after being approved by an overwhelming majority of the National Assembly.
8.
In October 2008, Haneef Atmar was sworn in as the Minister of Interior after being approved by a majority of the National Assembly.
9.
Haneef Atmar was appointed as the acting minister of foreign affairs by President Ashraf Ghani on 4 April 2020.
10.
Haneef Atmar was evacuated from Afghanistan on 16 August 2021 to Turkey, alongside Turkish citizens and other Afghan officials by the Turkish government.