General Khodaidad () is a former Minister of Counter Narcotics of Afghanistan. Early life and education He was born to an ethnic Hazara family in Shahristan District, Daykundi (Uruzgan) in central Afghanistan, the son of Gholam Ali, a farmer. Khodaidad completed his primary education at Shahristan Primary School in 1967. During that time the Hazara people hardly advanced to higher education in Kabul due to tribal discrimination in the country. There were no schools for the Hazaras, and it was very difficult to go to Kabul and study. The Hazara areas were under immense pressure from the Central government, who were not supportive and intentionally did not provide educational facilities in the Hazara-based areas. This meant the Hazara people had limited opportunity to develop and go on to further education. In particular, it was very difficult to get places in the army, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice and any key roles in the government. However, due to his hard work General Khodaidad managed to obtain a place at Kabul to study. He received his military high school diploma from Kabul Military High School, (Harbi Showanzai) in 1972. He completed his diploma with high marks and was one of the few selected, bright students to go to India to study at the National Defence Academy (NDA), located in Khadakwasla, near Pune, Maharashtra, India, which one of the most prestigious Academy in the world, in 1972. He studied at the NDA for three and a half years. Khodaidad graduated from the National Defence Academy (NDA) -India successfully and afterwards joined the Indian Military Academy (IMA), located in Dehradun, where he studied until 1977. Career After his return from India, Khodaidad had achieved the rank of second lieutenant infantry commando officer in the Afghan Army in 1977. He was the first army officer from the Sharistan district of Daikondi province in the Afghan armed forces. Khodaidad was a member of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) (Khalq). After the 1978 Saur Revolution and the Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989), he continued serving the government of Afghanistan and in 1983 Khodaidad was a Major and commander of 444 commando brigade. In 1985 he was sent to the Frunze Military Academy, located in Moscow and one of the most-prestigious Soviet military academies, for a period of one year. Khodaidad's military career includes: 1977 – platoon commander and instructor of reserve school of the Ministry