Ashraf Ghani

Ghani was born on 19 May 1949[8] in the Logar Province of Afghanistan. He belongs to the Ahmadzai Pashtun tribe.[9][10]

As a foreign exchange student, Ashraf attended Lake Oswego High School in Lake Oswego, Oregon and graduated with the class of 1967. He initially wanted to study Law but then changed his major to Cultural Anthropology. Ghani attended the American University in Beirut where he earned his bachelor's degree in 1973, and after that, attended Columbia University, where he earned his master's degree in 1977, and a PhD degree in 1983. He met his future wife, Rula, while studying there.[9]

Following his bachelor's degree, he served on the faculty of Kabul University (1973–77) and Aarhus University in Denmark (1977). Following his PhD degree, he was invited to teach at University of California, Berkeley in 1983, and then at Johns Hopkins University from 1983 to 1991. He has also attended the Harvard-INSEAD and World Bank-Stanford Graduate School of Business's leadership training program. His academic research was on state-building and social transformation. In 1985, he completed a year of fieldwork researching Pakistani madrassas as a Fulbright Scholar.[9]

He joined the World Bank in 1991, working on projects in East and South Asia during the mid-1990s.[9]

Returning to Afghanistan after 24 years in December 2001, Ghani left his posts at the UN and World Bank to join the new Afghan government as the chief advisor to President Hamid Karzai on 1 February 2002.

After leaving Kabul University, Ghani co-founded the Institute for State Effectiveness[11] with Clare Lockhart, of which he was Chairman. The Institute put forward a framework proposing that the state should perform ten functions in order to serve its citizens. This framework was discussed by leaders and managers of post-conflict transitions at a meeting sponsored by the UN and World Bank in September 2005. The program proposed that double compacts between the international community, government and the population of a country could be used as a basis for organizing aid and other interventions, and that an annual sovereignty index to measure state effectiveness be compiled.

Ghani was tipped as a candidate to succeed Kofi Annan as Secretary General of the United Nations at the end of 2006[12] in a front-page report in The Financial Times that quoted him as saying, "I hope to win, through ideas." Carlos Pascual of the Brookings Institution was also quoted, praising Ghani's "tremendous intellect, talent and capacity."[13]

In 2005, Ghani gave keynote speeches for meetings including the American Bar Association's International Rule of Law Symposium, the Trans-Atlantic Policy Network, the annual meeting of the Norwegian Government's development staff, CSIS's meeting on UN reform, the UN–OECD–World Bank's meeting on Fragile States and TEDGlobal.[14] He contributed to the Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

2009 Presidential election

Further information: Afghan presidential election, 2009

Ghani at a meeting in Panjshir Province in 2011

In January 2009 an article by Ahmad Majidyar of the American Enterprise Institute included Ghani on a list of fifteen possible candidates in the 2009 Afghan presidential election.[16][17]

On 7 May 2009, Ashraf Ghani registered as a candidate in the 2009 Afghan presidential election. Ghani's campaign emphasized the importance of: a representative administration; good governance; a dynamic economy and employment opportunities for the Afghan people.[18] Unlike other major candidates, Ghani asked the Afghan diaspora to support his campaign and provide financial support.[19] He appointed Mohammed Ayub Rafiqi as one of his vice president candidate deputies, and paid for the noted Clinton campaign chief strategist James Carville as a campaign advisor.[20]

Preliminary results placed Ghani fourth in a field of 38, securing roughly 3% of the votes.[21]

President Ghani sitting with Abdullah Abdullah and John Kerry in July 2014

Ghani with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ufa, Russia, 2015

After announcing his candidacy for the 2014 elections, Ghani tapped General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a prominent Uzbek politician and former military official in Karzai's government and Sarwar Danish, an ethnic Hazara, who also served as the Justice Minister in Karzai's cabinet, as his vice presidential candidates.[23]

Ghani meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Saadabad Palace

Ghani with U.S. President Donald Trump in October 2017

Ghani with US Defense Secretary Mark Esper at the Dilkusha Mansion Garden of the Arg in Kabul

After none of the candidates managed to win more than 50% of the vote in the first round of the election, Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, the two front runners from the first round, contested in a run-off election, which was held on 14 June 2014.

Initial results from the run-off elections showed Ghani as the overwhelming favourite to win the elections. However, allegations of electoral fraud resulted in a stalemate, threats of violence and the formation of a parallel government by the camp of his opponent, Abdullah Abdullah. On 7 August 2014 US Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Kabul to broker a deal that outlined an extensive audit of nearly 8 million votes and formation of a national unity government with a new role for a chief executive officer who would carry out meaningful functions within the president's administration. After a three-month audit process, which was supervised by the United Nations with financial support from the U.S. government, the Independent Election Commission announced Ghani as President after Ghani agreed to a national unity deal. Initially, the election commission said it would not formally announce specific results. It later released a statement that said Ghani managed to secure 55.4% and Abdullah Abdullah secured 43.5% of the vote, although it declined to release the individual vote results. In September 2019, an explosion near an election rally attended by President Ashraf Ghani killed 24 people and injured 31 others, but Ghani was unhurt.[24]

Economy and trade

During his tenure, Ghani has strengthened ties with Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan, with which it has made deals to increase mutual trading.[25][26] New trade routes have also been launched within the wider region. The Chabahar Port in Iran allows increased trading with India whilst avoiding Pakistani territory.[27] A railway line from Khaf in Iran to Herat in Afghanistan is set to be opened in late 2018.[28][29] In 2017, a railway line from Turkmenistan was extended to Aqina in Afghanistan, the precursor of the "Lapis Lazuli" transport corridor that was signed by Ghani that same year and would link Afghanistan to the Caucasus and the Black Sea.[30] Other regional projects include the CASA-1000 hydroelectricity transmission from Central Asia, and the TAPI gas pipeline, expected to be completed by 2018 and 2019 respectively.[31] In January 2018 at the inauguration of the Khan Steel iron smelting plant in Kabul, Ghani said that he is aiming for Afghanistan to become a steel exporter.[32]

Ashraf Ghani with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In 2015, a survey conducted by the Afghan news channel TOLO News showed that the popularity of Ashraf Ghani in Afghanistan had fallen dramatically with only 27.5% of the respondents claiming that they were satisfied with his leadership.[33]

In an interview with Vice News Ghani said that his 'heart breaks for Talibans'. He further stated that 'Talibans are Afghans and he is president of all Afghans'.[40][41][42] Ashraf Ghani also said that he is willing to offer Afghan passports to the Taliban and to recognise them as a legitimate political group in Afghanistan, as an attempt to strike a peace deal with them.[43]

Ghani is pro-modernist and a fond admirer of former Afghanistan's progressive King Amanullah Khan[44][45] and president Mohammed Daoud Khan.[46] Ghani has imitated the policies of Daoud Khan, which in turn has led to a rise in ethnic tensions in Afghanistan.

President Ghani at a conference in 2014

Ashraf Ghani is married to Rula Saade,[47] Rula Saade Ghani was born in a Lebanese Christian family.[48] The couple married after they met during their studies at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon during the 1970s.[49] They eventually settled in the United States and obtained U.S. citizenship. However, Ghani renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2009 so he could run in Afghan elections.[1]

Ashraf and Rula Ghani have two children, a daughter, Mariam, a Brooklyn-based visual artist,[50] and a son, Tariq. Both were born in the United States and carry U.S. citizenship and passports. In an unusual move for a politician in Afghanistan, Ghani at his presidential inauguration in 2014 publicly thanked his wife, acknowledging her with an Afghan name, Bibi Gul.[49] "I want to thank my partner, Bibi Gul, for supporting me and Afghanistan," he said. "She has always supported Afghan women and I hope she continues to do so."[51]

Ashraf Ghani also owns 200 acres of land in Surkhab area of Logar province. Abdul Baqi Ahmadzai, who is close to Ashraf Ghani, claims that Ashraf Ghani inherited a lot of land from his father. However, Ashraf Ghani bought this 200 acres of land separately in Logar province.[52]

Ghani lost most of his stomach after suffering from cancer in the 1990s. It is said that Ghani wakes up every morning before five, and reads for two to three hours.[53]

He is the older brother of Hashmat Ghani Ahmadzai, an Afghan politician who is the Grand Council Chieftain of the Kuchis.[54]

On 2 February 2020, Ashraf Ghani made controversial remarks while talking about Timur and Muhammad of Ghor[55] which angered the Uzbek population of Afghanistan.[56] He made those remarks while delivering a speech to a group of Afghan students on History, Culture, and the National Identity.[56][57] Ghani stated that Muhammad of Ghor destroyed Afghanistan’s central irrigation system while Genghis Khan demolished the irrigation system of the northern provinces. Ghani also taunted Turkic conqueror Amir Timur by calling him ‘lame’ and stated that Timur wiped-out the irrigation system for Sistan, Farah, and Helmand provinces.[57] His remarks regarding Timur were considered highly offensive to Uzbeks, according to experts, which drew wide spread condemnation from Afghanistan's Uzbeks population.[56]

Following his remarks, residents of Faryab province staged protests and demanded an apology from Ashraf Ghani. The protesters threatened that they would take serious action if Ghani did not apologize for his remarks.[58] Abdul Rashid Dostum, former vice president of Afghanistan and an ethnic Uzbek, also demanded an apology from Ashraf Ghani. Bashir Ahmad Tahyanj, spokesperson of the National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, said that "Ghani has a personal bias towards historic figures, honorable ethnicities, the history and culture of the people who live in Afghanistan. This is not his first time.”[56] However, the Afghan government palace in a statement defended Ghani's remarks and stated that 'what Ghani said about Timur was not offensive or insulting'.[57][56][59]

• Politics of Afghanistan
• Economy of Afghanistan
• Hashmat Ghani Ahmadzai

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Ashraf Ghani

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ashraf Ghani.

• Islamic Republic of Afghanistan: Office of the President
• Profile: Ashraf Ghani – BBC News
• Afghan Elections Dossier – Ashraf Ghani, August 2009 – Radio France Internationale
• Ashraf Ghani at TED
• AFGHANISTAN’S THEORIST-IN-CHIEF; President Ashraf Ghani is an expert on failed states. Can he save his country from collapse? 4 July 2016 The New Yorker issue by George Packer
• BBC Radio 4 Profile
• Appearances on C-SPAN