HAMID KARZAI: The prime minister, 44, is a Pashtun leader whose Popolzai tribe is one of the largest in southern Kandahar. Married to a doctor, he became tribal leader after his father's assassination in Pakistan. Fluent in English, his native Pashtu and Dari and other major languages of Afghanistan and neighboring countries

YOUNUS QANOONI: The interior minister is an intellectual, 44, from the Panjshir Valley's town of Rokha. During the 1992-96 government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani, Qanooni was deputy defense minister, then interior minister. He survived an attempt on his life that was blamed on  Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. As a result, he walks with a cane.

Dr. ABDULLAH: The foreign minister is a medical doctor ,44, Raised in the capital, Kabul, he was the leading spokesman for Massood until the northern alliance military chief was assassinated Sept. 9. During the 1992-96 government of Burhanuddin Rabbani, Abdullah was the foreign minister, a role he assumed again after Nov. 13, when the northern alliance took power from the Taliban.

Mohammad Qaseem Fahim (N) Appointed: Defense Minister

MOHAMMED FAHIM: The defense minister, 44, is an ethnic Tajik from the northern Panjshir Valley and a member of the northern alliance. He was appointed alliance defense minister after the death of Ahmed Shah Massood. During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Fahim was a member of (Khad) the secret police of the communist government, then joined the Islamic uprising against the communists in the late 1980s.

SIMA SAMAR: A 44-year-old ethnic Hazara Born February, 1957 in Ghazni belonged to the feminist Revolutionary Afghan Women's Association. Samar fled her homeland after the 1979 Soviet invasion, in which her first husband was killed. She worked as a doctor in a refugee camp in Pakistan and opened Shuhada, a hospital there in 1987. 

Mr. Edayat Amin Arsala came to US in 1959.  Upon his return to Kabul he was sent to Czechoslovakia  (his major was Tank). He had earned his Ph.D. in economics and finance and worked for World Bank. In early 80's he requested his early retirement and joined the mujahedeen. he had served in Rabani's administration as a foreign minister. He is a close advisor to King Zahir Shah

The governor of the province of Nangarhar in southern Afghanistan, a complex Pashtun tribal area that connects Kabul to Peshawar (Pashtun)

SUHAILA SIDDIQI: The 60-year-old surgeon is health minister. An ethnic Muhammadzai Pashtun related to Afghanistan's royal family, she was given the rank of surgeon general during the communist rule of Najibullah. in September 1996, she was the chief of surgery at the capital's Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital. 

Rahman was a senior figure in the Northern Alliance which dominated the interim government, but later switched his allegiance to former King Zahir Shah. He was killed by supporters of Rabbani in an attack at Kabul Airport. This was said to be a warning for those who were thinking of supporting the Zahir Shah whose popularity has grown in Afghanistan

An ethnic Hazara, Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq is the Planning Minister, Interim Government of  Afghanistan  and a Chairman of the Political Committee of Hizb-e Wahdat Islami Afghanistan

Water and Electricity: Shaker Kargar. Uzbek. Northern alliance.

Commerce: Seyyed Mustafa Kazemi. Shiite. Northern alliance.

Mines and Industries: Muhammad Alem Razm. Uzbek. Northern alliance.

Small Industries: Aref Noorzai. Pashtun. Northern alliance.

Information and Culture: Raheen Makhdoom. Shiite. Rome group.

Communications: Abdul Rahim. Tajik. Northern alliance.

Labor and Social Affairs: Mir Wais Sadeq. Tajik. Northern alliance.

Hajj (Pilgrimage): Mohammad Hanif Balkhi. Shiite.

Martyrs and Disabled: Abdullah Wardak. Pashtun. Northern alliance.

Education: Ghulam Muhammad Yailaqi. Hazara. Rome group.

Higher Education: Sharif Faez. Tajik. Northern alliance.

Public Works: Abdul Khaliq Fazal. Pashtun. Rome group.

Rural Development: Abdul Malik Anwar. Tajik. Northern alliance.

Reconstruction: Muhammad Amin Farhang. Shiite. Rome group.

Transport: Sultan Hamid Sultan. Hazara. Northern alliance.

Return of Refugees: Enayatullah Nazeri. Tajik. Northern alliance.

Agriculture: Seyyed Hussein Anwari. Shiite. Northern alliance.

Irrigation: Mangal Hussein. Pashtun. Peshawar group.

Justice: Abdul Rahim Karimi. Uzbek.Northern alliance.

Department of Border Affairs: Amanullah Zadran. Pashtun. Rome group.