Researching Abdullah Abdullah

Abdullah was one of the 22 original members of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation list of Most Wanted Terrorists. The State Department, through the Rewards for Justice Program, had offered up to US$10 million for information on his location. He was wanted by the United States for his alleged role in the 1998 American embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. The FBI also gave other names used by Abdullah as Abu Mariam, Mustafa Abu Mariam Khaled, Abu Mohamed Al-Masri, and Saleh, a possible abbreviation of Saleh Gamal.

On 14 November 2020, The New York Times reported that Abdullah had been killed on 7 August 2020 in Tehran, Iran, by Israeli Mossad operatives at the request of the United States. On 12 January 2021, the United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed the death of Abdullah.

Abdullah ran against President Hamid Karzai in the 2009 Afghan presidential election, coming second with 30.5% of the total votes. In 2010, he created the Coalition for Change and Hope, which became the National Coalition of Afghanistan in 2011 and is one of the leading democratic opposition movements in Afghanistan. He ran again in the 2014 presidential election and went to the second round with 45% the total vote. His closest rival, Ashraf Ghani, had secured 35% of the total vote. Due to signs of fraud, the results of the second round were heavily contested and led to a deadlock. Despite the controversy regarding the results of the second round of elections, the final certified result by the Independent election commission of Afghanistan shows that Ashraf Ghani received 55.3% of the votes while Abdullah Abdullah secured 44.7% of the vote. After months of talks and US mediation, the two candidates established a national unity government in which Abdullah served as the Chief Executive of Afghanistan.

Following the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on 17 August 2021, leader of the Taliban-affiliated Hezb-e-Islami party Gulbuddin Hekmatyar met with Abdullah and Karzai in Doha, seeking to form a government. Reports emerged on 25 August that a 12-member council will be formed to govern the de facto newly-reinstated Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Reportedly 7 members were already agreed upon: Abdullah himself, Karzai, Hekmatyar, Abdul Ghani Baradar, Mohammad Yaqoob, Khalil-ur-Rehman Haqqani, and Hanif Atmar. However, it was later announced that Abdullah Abullah and Karzai had failed to secure roles in the new government.