Nelofer Pazira is the first female Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Afghanistan and leader of the Liberal Islamic Movement, a socially liberal and economically centrist party. She was a well-known writer before her election as an MP in 1997 and as Prime Minister in the elections of 2008. Nelofer is relatively popular in Afghanistan for promoting economic growth through expansion of trade routes and oil/gas pipelines through Afghanistan, as well as leading a global movement to legalize medical heroin as a painkiller of last resort, as Afghanistan is a major supplier of legal opiates.