Abdullah Abdullah, a three-times presidential contender, held a parallel inauguration as his rival, Ashraf Ghani, was sworn in as president of Afghanistan on MondayAfter working as a medical doctor in his twenties, Abdullah came into politics - and war - with the anti-Taliban resistance hero and warlord Ahmad Shah Massoud, assassinated two days before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States by Islamist group al Qaeda.
- A Tajik-Pashtun, Abdullah was made foreign minister in 2001 by then President Hamid Karzai after the Taliban Islamist militant group was ousted, but resigned in 2006.
