Karim became involved in politics at university, being elected to the leadership of the Kurdish Student Union in 1971, and then later joining the Peshmerga in 1972.

Dr. Karim co-founded the Kurdish National Congress of North America, established the Washington Kurdish Institute, worked with the Senate and State Department to provide Kurdish-language programming on Voice of America, and made frequent appearances on major news outlets.

[1] Dr. Karim was the head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's Kirkuk list in the 2014 general elections where he drew enormous support across ethnic groups with over 150,000 votes.

[12] In October 2017, Karim had to leave the city of Kirkuk after Iranian backed militias and the Iraqi federal army entered the province.

[14] He was accused of corruption in connection with Project "Kirkuk Eagle", which aimed to wirelessly monitor vehicle movements into and out of the province to prevent theft, which the court claimed was a fraud.

[16] Karim had both Iraqi and American citizenship, and prior to his return to Iraq lived in the United States with his wife and family, where he ran his medical practice.