Abdul Rahim Wardak is the Defense Minister of Afghanistan, where he focuses on security sector reform, state building, and fighting terrorism and narcotics trafficking. He was appointed Defense Minister by President Hamid Karzai on December 23, 2004. Before this appointment General Wardak was the deputy Defense Minister to Mohammed Fahim.

General Wardak has testified in front of the U.S. Congress, and his counsel is regularly sought on how to stabilize the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. In February 2009, he met with Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and he has also met to discuss security with the NATO defense ministers and NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe, U.S. General John Craddock.

His on-the-ground knowledge of Afghanistan is widely respected. On February 26, 2009 General Wardak, spoke at The Washington Think Tank, Center for a New American Security . There he said, “Changing course, adopting a new strategy of containment or dropping the idea of a strong central government will be falling into the trap the enemy has laid, helping them to achieve their evil objectives."