 In 2000, Joe and James, along with Robert McFarlane, President Reagan's Security Advisor, met with Abdul Haq (Afghan leader), one of the most successful commanders in Afghanistan during the struggle against the Soviet Union in the 1980s.With Abdul Haq, the Ritchies worked to create a strategy for Afghanistan to transition into a more democratic and modern society with the help of the former Afghan King Zahir Shah.The Ritchie brothers and Abdul Haq enlisted the former King “to serve as the catalyst and moral foundation of the process.” The former king and his council voted unanimously to accept Haq's plan in Afghanistan.