Mohammad Musa Shafiq

Mohammad Musa Shafiq (1932–1979) was Prime Minister of Afghanistan. He was an Afghan politician and poet. He became Foreign Minister in 1971 and Prime Minister in December 1972. He lost both positions when Mohammed Zahir Shah was overthrown on July 17, 1973. He survived throughout the regime of Mohammed Daoud Khan, but was arrested after the 1978 communist coup d'état and executed along with many other anti-communist politicians in 1979.

Mohammad Musa Shafiq
محمد موسی شفيق
Prime Minister of Afghanistan
In office 12 December 1972 – 17 July 1973
Monarch	Mohammad Zahir Shah
Preceded by	Abdul Zahir
Succeeded by	Nur Muhammad Taraki (1978–1979)
Personal details
Born	1932 Kama District, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan
Died	1979 Kabul, Afghanistan
Resting place	Unknown
Nationality	Afghanistan
Political party	Independent
Alma mater	Al-Azhar University, Columbia University
Occupation	Politician, Poet

Early life

Mohammad Musa Shafiq was born in Kama district, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan in 1932. Son of prominent Afghan politicians, civil servants and religious leader Mawlawi Mohammad Ibraheem Kamavi.

Education

Mohammad Musa Shafiq was graduated from Kabul Arabic Religious High School. He earned his Master's degree from Al-Azhar University in Egypt after which he earned an additional Master's degree from Columbia University in New York, United States of America.[1]

Prime minister

As Prime Minister, Shafiq supported reforms of the largely conservative society of Afghanistan. He also sought closer ties with the United States and promised a crack-down on opium growing and smuggling. Other than that, he was also responsible for solving the then ongoing water dispute with Iran on diplomatic terms.[2] Shafiq was prime Minister for seven months.

Notes

1. Biography of Mohammad Musa Shafiq, TasvirAfghanistan.com. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
2. Anderson, Jack (2 March 1973) "The Afghanistan Connection" The Syracuse Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York) page 5, column 3