General Khodaidad Khodaidad
Minister of Counter Narcotics
General Khodaidad Khodaidad was born in Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan on February 12, 1955. He completed his primary education at Shahristan Primary School in 1967 and received his high school diploma in 1972 from the Kabul military high school. Gen. Khodaidad also holds graduate degrees from the Indian National Defense Academy, the India Ministry Academy, and from the Fronza Military Academy, Moscow.
Gen. Khodaidad was appointed to serve as Minister of Counter Narcotics in March 2008. He had served as the First Deputy Minister of Counter Narcotics since 2005. On July 5, 2007, when former Counter Narcotics Minister Habibullah Qaderi resigned, Khodaidad became Acting Minister of Counter Narcotics. President Hamid Karzai formally named him to the position on February 4, 2008 and he was confirmed by the Afghan Parliament on March 1, 2008.
In his role as Deputy Minister and then Acting Minister of Counter Narcotics, Gen. Khodaidad was active in promoting counter narcotics strategies In August 2007 he spearheaded a narcotics public awareness campaign in 22 Afghan provinces as the first step in the process of eliminating poppy cultivation. Minister Khodaidad has prior experience as a Brigade, Division, Corps and Operational Group commander.
