CANDIDATE FOR AFGHAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION EMERGES

UNCLAS CANBERRA 000278 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL AF AS SUBJECT: CANDIDATE FOR AFGHAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION EMERGES FROM AUSTRALIA ¶1. (SBU) Abdul Khaliq Fazal advised Embassy of his plan to run in Afghanistan's August Presidential election. Mr. Fazal has a heart condition and is currently awaiting his doctor's permission to travel to Afghanistan to contest the election. ¶2. (SBU) According to his curriculum vitae, Mr. Fazal was born in Kandahar in 1951 and is a dual citizen of Afghanistan and Australia. He served as Campaign advisor to President Hamid Karzai during the 2004 Presidential Election Campaign. He was also Minister of Public Works in the Afghan Interim Government (2001-2004) and President of the Evaluation Commission for State Owned Enterprises in the Afghanistan Islamic Transitional Government (2002-2004). Mr. Fazal was a member of the First Loya Jirga in 2002, the Constitution Loya Jirga in 2004, and the Afghan/Pak Joint Peace Jirga in 2007. He has been politically active in Australia since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and has been Chairman of the Afghan Australian Association of Victoria since 1977. He is fluent in English, Pashto, Dari and Farsi. Currently, Mr. Fazal is the Managing Director of A.K. Fazal - Social Services and Consulting Co. in Melbourne, Australia, offering immigration, business investment and financial advisory services. Mr. Fazal began undergraduate studies at the University of Melbourne in 1974, with continued post-graduate work at the University of Melbourne, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and Monash University. Since 1980, Mr. Fazal has held various consulting positions with the Communities Services Government of Victoria, Australia and the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs, Australia. CLUNE