He is also known for his role as spokesman for the Northern Alliance during the U.S.-led invasion of his country after the events of September 11, 2001.

[2] A consistent presence in American media prior to the Taliban's collapse in 2001,[3][4] Amin was appointed chargé d'affaires to the United States by the interim Afghan government on January 14, 2002, led by Hamid Karzai.

He was the highest-ranking Afghan diplomat in Washington for a year-long period in 2002–03, before being appointed by President Karzai as his country's first ambassador to Japan on 30 April 2004.

[5] Born in Kabul,[5] his Tajik family fled Afghanistan one year after the Soviet invasion of 1979, eventually settling in the U.S.[2] He returned to his home country in 1988 to fight with the mujahideen under their commander Ahmed Shah Massoud, who assigned Amin to Afghanistan's embassy in Washington in 1990.

[6] At the time of the 9/11 attacks, Amin was serving as a diplomat of the Afghan mission to the United Nations.