[1][2] He previously served as Somaliland's Minister of Commerce during the Siilaanyo administration.

[2] In June 2023, Abdirisak resigned as the speaker of the House of Representatives and defected to the SSC-Khatumo Administration, which sought to rejoin Somalia as an autonomous state amid the Las Anod conflict.

Abdirisak had been sent to the region to help negotiate a resolution to the fighting but sided with the SSC-Khatumo's leaders and accused the Somalilander military of committing war crimes, for which a legal prosecution was launched against Abdirisak by the Somalilander attorney general.

[4][5] Abdirisak Khalif Ahmed was born in 1967 in Las Anod, Somaliland.

[3] He completed his primary education in Las Anod and later moved to Somalia for further studies.