He was replaced by Sarwar Danish when Karzai reshuffled his cabinet when he was elected president in 2004.
Karimi, an ethnic Uzbek who was aligned with the Northern Alliance, was installed as minister by the Bonn Conference, following the defeat of the Taliban government.
[citation needed] As a minister with a background United Islamic Front he is reported to have said that all Afghan refugees were welcome to return after the Taliban-era, except for communists, indicating that he still saw the world through the lens of the Cold War.
In November 2002 he said that government laws could not be enforced in parts of the country were warlords were still in power.
[2] Islamists wanted that the legal system of Afghanistan would be drawn solely from Sharia law.