Ashraf Ghani
Encyclopedia
Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai is a prominent politician in Afghanistan
and the former chancellor
of Kabul University
. He is also the chairman of the Institute for State Effectiveness
, an organization set up in 2005 to promote the ability of states to serve their citizens. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002, Ahmadzai was a leading scholar of political science
and anthropology
. He has worked at the World Bank
for a number of years where he learned the tools of international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he set the path for Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery after the collapse of the Taliban
. He is usually referred to as Ashraf Ghani, while Ahmadzai
is the name of his Pashtun
tribe.
Dr. Ghani is also a member of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor
, an independent initiative hosted by the UNDP
. In the 2009 presidential election
, he was ranked fourth in the polls, behind the president Hamid Karzai
, his main contender Dr. Abdullah
, and Ramazan Bashardost.
In 2010 Foreign Policy Magazine placed him in its annual list of the Top 100 Global Thinkers.
from an influential Ahmadzai
family, he completed his primary and secondary education in Habibia High School
in Kabul
. He travelled to Lebanon to attend the American University in Beirut and earned his first degree in 1973. During his stay there he met his future wife, Rula. He returned to Afghanistan in 1974 to teach Afghan studies and anthropology at Kabul University
before winning a government scholarship to study for a Master's degree in anthropology at Columbia University
in the United States. He left Afghanistan in 1977, intending to be away for two years.
When the PDPA communist party came to power
in Kabul, most of the male members of his family were imprisoned and Ahmadzai was stranded in America. He stayed at Columbia University and earned his Ph.D. there, and was immediately invited to teach at University of California, Berkeley
(1983) and then at Johns Hopkins University
(1983-1991). During this period he became a frequent commentator on the BBC Dari and Pashto services
, broadcast in Afghanistan. He has also attended the Harvard-INSEAD
and Stanford business schools leadership training program for the World Bank
. He served on the faculty of Kabul University
(1973–77), Aarhus University in Denmark
(1977), University of California, Berkeley
(1983), and Johns Hopkins University
(1983–1991). His academic research was on state-building and social transformations. In 1985 he undertook a year of fieldwork researching Pakistan
i Madrasas as a Fulbright Scholar. He has also studied comparative religion. He joined the World Bank in 1991, working on projects in East Asia
and South Asia
until the mid 1990s.
In 1996, he pioneered the application of institutional and organizational analysis to macro processes of change and reform, working directly on the adjustment program of the Russia
n coal industry and carrying out reviews of the Bank’s country assistance strategies and structural adjustment programs globally. He spent five years each in China
, India
, and Russia managing large-scale development and institutional transformation projects. He had worked intensively with the media during the first Gulf War
, commenting on major radio and television programs and being interviewed by newspapers.
as well as BBC
, CNN
, other television programs, the BBC, Public Radio, other radios, and writing for major newspapers. In November 2002, he accepted an appointment as a Special Advisor to the United Nations and assisted Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi
, the Special Representative of the Secretary General to Afghanistan, to prepare the Bonn Agreement
, the process and document that provided the basis of transfer of power to the people of Afghanistan.
Returning after 24 years to Afghanistan in December 2001, he resigned from his posts at the UN
and World Bank to join the Afghan government
as the chief advisor to President Hamid Karzai
on February 1, 2002. He has worked on a pro bono basis and was among the first officials to disclose his assets. In this capacity, he worked on the preparation of the Loya Jirga
s (grand assemblies) that elected President Hamid Karzai and approved the Constitution of Afghanistan
. After the election of President Karzai directly by the people of Afghanistan in October 2004, Mr. Ghani declined to join the cabinet and asked to be appointed as Chancellor of Kabul University
. As Chancellor of the University, he worked to institute a style of participatory governance among the faculty, students, and staff, advocating a vision of the university where men and women with skills and commitment to lead their country in the age of globalization can be trained.
Since leaving the university, Dr. Ghani has co-founded the Institute for State Effectiveness
, of which he is Chairman. The Institute has put forward a framework which proposes that the state should perform ten functions in the contemporary world 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 at the Greentree Estates in September 2005. The program also proposes that the vehicle of state-building or sovereignty strategies, underpinned by 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 a sovereignty index to measure state effectiveness should be compiled on an annual basis.
Mr. Ghani was tipped as a candidate to succeed Kofi Annan
as Secretary General of the United Nations at the end of 2006. His name was floated in a front page report in The Financial Times (September 18, 2006) which went on to quote him as saying, “I hope to win, through ideas.” Two distinguished experts on international relations told the paper that "the UN would be very lucky indeed to have him" and praised his "tremendous intellect, talent and capacity."
Doubts about his temperament seemed to be haunting him a few months later, in April 2007, when his name appeared as a possible candidate to head the World Bank.
Mr. Ghani has been sought as a public speaker and in 2005 given the keynote speeches for a number of 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’ meeting on UN reform, the UN-OECD-World Bank’s meeting on Fragile States, and TEDGlobal. He has contributed to the Financial Times
, International Herald Tribune
, Los Angeles Times
, New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.
. The World Justice Project
works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the Rule of Law
for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.
Ashraf Ghani was recognized as the best finance minister of Asia in 2003 by Emerging Markets. During his tenure as finance minister of Afghanistan, he carried out a series of extensive reforms. He issued a new currency in record time, computerized the operations of the treasury, instituted the single treasury account, adopted a policy of no-deficit financing, introduced the budget as the central instrument of policy, centralized revenue, reformed the tariff system, and overhauled customs. He instituted regular reporting to the cabinet, the people of Afghanistan, and international stakeholders as a tool of transparency and accountability, and broke new ground in the coordination of donor assistance by requiring donors to keep their interventions to three sectors, thereby bringing clarity and mutual accountability to their relations with government counterparts, and preparing a development strategy that held Afghans more accountable for their own future development.
On March 31, 2004, he presented a seven-year program of public investment called Securing Afghanistan’s Future to an international conference in Berlin
attended by 65 finance and foreign ministers. Described as the most comprehensive program ever prepared and presented by a poor country to the international community, Securing Afghanistan’s Future was prepared by a team of 100 experts working under the supervision of a committee chaired by Mr. Ghani. The concept of a double-compact, between the donors and the government of Afghanistan on the one hand and between the government and people of Afghanistan on the other, underpinned the program of investment in Securing Afghanistan’s Future. The donors pledged $8.2 billion at the conference for the first three years of the program –- the exact amount asked by the government—and agreed that the government’s request for a total seven-year package of assistance of $27.5 billion was justified.
The focus on poverty eradication through the creation of wealth and the establishment of the rights of citizenship has been at the heart of Mr. Ghani’s development approach. In Afghanistan, he is attributed with designing the National Solidarity Program, a program of bloc grants to villages in which elected village councils determine both the priorities and the mechanisms of implementation. The program currently covers 13,000 of the estimated 20,000 villages of the country. He also partnered with the Ministry of Communication to ensure that telecom licenses were granted on a fully transparent basis. As a result, the number of mobile phones in the country has jumped from 100 in July 2002 to over a million at the end of 2005. Private investment in the sector exceeded $200 million and the telecom sector emerged as one of the major sectors of revenue generation for government.
included Ghani on a list of fifteen possible candidates in the 2009 Afghan presidential election.
On May 7, 2009, Ashraf Ghani registered as a candidate in the Afghan presidential election, 2009
. In announcing his candidacy, Ghani emphasized the importance of: establishing a representative administration; good governance; building a dynamic economy and creating employment opportunities for the Afghan people. Unlike other major candidates, Ghani is specifically reaching out the Afghan diaspora to support his campaign and provide financial support. He has appointed Mohammed Ayub Rafiqi as one of his vice president candidate deputies, and hired noted Clinton-campaign chief strategist James Carville
as a campaign advisor.
Preliminary results placed Ghani fourth in a field of 38. Ashraf Ghani finally ended up securing roughly 3% of the total votes.
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Politics of Afghanistan
The politics of Afghanistan consists of the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly, with a president serving as the head of state and commander-in-chief of the military. The nation is currently led by the Karzai administration under President Hamid Karzai who is backed by two vice...
and the former chancellor
Chancellor (education)
A chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....
of Kabul University
Kabul University
Kabul University is located in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. It was founded in 1931 but officially opened for classes in 1932. Kabul University is currently attended by approximately 7,000 students, of which 1,700 are women. As of 2008, Hamidullah Amin is the chancellor of the university...
. He is also the chairman of the Institute for State Effectiveness
Institute for State Effectiveness
The Institute for State Effectiveness is a non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. which seeks to develop integrated approaches to state-building and provide independent, authoritative and practical policy advice to the international community and national leaders who are tasked...
, an organization set up in 2005 to promote the ability of states to serve their citizens. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002, Ahmadzai was a leading scholar of political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
and anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
. He has worked at the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
for a number of years where he learned the tools of international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he set the path for Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery after the collapse of the Taliban
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was founded in 1996 when the Taliban began their rule of Afghanistan and ended with their fall from power in 2001...
. He is usually referred to as Ashraf Ghani, while Ahmadzai
Ahmadzai
Aḥmadzai is a Pashtun tribe. There are many separate and distinct clans, sub-clans, tribal fractions, large families etc. that trace their ancestry to different Aḥmads.-Afghanistan:...
is the name of his Pashtun
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
tribe.
Dr. Ghani is also a member of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor
Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor
The Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor was an independent international organization, hosted by the United Nations Development Programme , and established in 2005 as the “first global initiative to focus on the link between exclusion, poverty, and the law.” Drawing upon three years of...
, an independent initiative hosted by the UNDP
United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations' global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP operates in 177 countries, working with nations on their own solutions to...
. In the 2009 presidential election
Afghan presidential election, 2009
The 2009 presidential election in Afghanistan was characterized by lack of security, low voter turnout and widespread ballot stuffing, intimidation, and other electoral fraud....
, he was ranked fourth in the polls, behind the president Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai, GCMG is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001...
, his main contender Dr. Abdullah
Abdullah Abdullah
Abdullah Abdullah is an Afghan politician and a doctor of medicine. He was an adviser and friend to Ahmad Shah Massoud, legendary anti-Taliban leader and commander known as the "Lion of Panjshir". After the fall of the Taliban regime, Dr. Abdullah served as Afghanistan's Foreign Minister from 2001...
, and Ramazan Bashardost.
In 2010 Foreign Policy Magazine placed him in its annual list of the Top 100 Global Thinkers.
Early years
Ghani was born in 1949 in the Logar province of Afghanistan. An ethnic PashtunPashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
from an influential Ahmadzai
Ahmadzai
Aḥmadzai is a Pashtun tribe. There are many separate and distinct clans, sub-clans, tribal fractions, large families etc. that trace their ancestry to different Aḥmads.-Afghanistan:...
family, he completed his primary and secondary education in Habibia High School
Habibia High School
Habibia High School is a school in Kabul, Afghanistan, which has educated many of the former and current Afghan elite, including President Hamid Karzai and the country's most famous musician Ahmad Zahir. It was founded by King Habibullah Khan in 1903....
in Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
. He travelled to Lebanon to attend the American University in Beirut and earned his first degree in 1973. During his stay there he met his future wife, Rula. He returned to Afghanistan in 1974 to teach Afghan studies and anthropology at Kabul University
Kabul University
Kabul University is located in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. It was founded in 1931 but officially opened for classes in 1932. Kabul University is currently attended by approximately 7,000 students, of which 1,700 are women. As of 2008, Hamidullah Amin is the chancellor of the university...
before winning a government scholarship to study for a Master's degree in anthropology at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in the United States. He left Afghanistan in 1977, intending to be away for two years.
When the PDPA communist party came to power
Saur Revolution
The Saur Revolution is the name given to the Communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan takeover of political power from the government of Afghanistan on 28 April 1978. The word 'Saur', i.e...
in Kabul, most of the male members of his family were imprisoned and Ahmadzai was stranded in America. He stayed at Columbia University and earned his Ph.D. there, and was immediately invited to teach at University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
(1983) and then at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
(1983-1991). During this period he became a frequent commentator on the BBC Dari and Pashto services
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
, broadcast in Afghanistan. He has also attended the Harvard-INSEAD
INSEAD
INSEAD is an international graduate business school and research institution. It has campuses in Europe , Asia , and the Middle East , as well as a research center in Israel...
and Stanford business schools leadership training program for the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
. He served on the faculty of Kabul University
Kabul University
Kabul University is located in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. It was founded in 1931 but officially opened for classes in 1932. Kabul University is currently attended by approximately 7,000 students, of which 1,700 are women. As of 2008, Hamidullah Amin is the chancellor of the university...
(1973–77), Aarhus University in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
(1977), University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
(1983), and Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
(1983–1991). His academic research was on state-building and social transformations. In 1985 he undertook a year of fieldwork researching Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i Madrasas as a Fulbright Scholar. He has also studied comparative religion. He joined the World Bank in 1991, working on projects in East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
and South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
until the mid 1990s.
In 1996, he pioneered the application of institutional and organizational analysis to macro processes of change and reform, working directly on the adjustment program of the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n coal industry and carrying out reviews of the Bank’s country assistance strategies and structural adjustment programs globally. He spent five years each in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and Russia managing large-scale development and institutional transformation projects. He had worked intensively with the media during the first Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
, commenting on major radio and television programs and being interviewed by newspapers.
Recent years
After 9/11, he took leave without pay from the World Bank and engaged in intensive interaction with the media, appearing regularly on PBS’s News HourNews Hour
The title News Hour may refer to:* Newshour, the BBC World Service radio flagship programme* News Hour , a now ended news programme on British breakfast television GMT...
as well as BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, other television programs, the BBC, Public Radio, other radios, and writing for major newspapers. In November 2002, he accepted an appointment as a Special Advisor to the United Nations and assisted Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi
Lakhdar Brahimi
Lakhdar Brahimi is a veteran United Nations envoy and advisor. He retired from his duties at the end of 2005. Brahimi is a member of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, the first global initiative to focus specifically on the link between exclusion, poverty and law...
, the Special Representative of the Secretary General to Afghanistan, to prepare the Bonn Agreement
Bonn Agreement (Afghanistan)
Officially the Agreement on Provisional Arrangements in Afghanistan Pending the Re-Establishment of Permanent Government Institutions, the Bonn Agreement was the initial series of agreements intended to re-create the State of Afghanistan following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in response to the...
, the process and document that provided the basis of transfer of power to the people of Afghanistan.
Returning after 24 years to Afghanistan in December 2001, he resigned from his posts at the UN
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and World Bank to join the Afghan government
Politics of Afghanistan
The politics of Afghanistan consists of the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly, with a president serving as the head of state and commander-in-chief of the military. The nation is currently led by the Karzai administration under President Hamid Karzai who is backed by two vice...
as the chief advisor to President Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai, GCMG is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001...
on February 1, 2002. He has worked on a pro bono basis and was among the first officials to disclose his assets. In this capacity, he worked on the preparation of the Loya Jirga
Loya jirga
A loya jirga is a type of jirga regarded as "grand assembly," a phrase in the Pashto language meaning "grand council." A loya jirga is a mass meeting usually prepared for major events such as choosing a new king, adopting a constitution, or discussing important national political or emergency...
s (grand assemblies) that elected President Hamid Karzai and approved the Constitution of Afghanistan
Constitution of Afghanistan
The Constitution of Afghanistan is the supreme law of the state Afghanistan, which serves as the legal framework between the Afghan government and the Afghan citizens...
. After the election of President Karzai directly by the people of Afghanistan in October 2004, Mr. Ghani declined to join the cabinet and asked to be appointed as Chancellor of Kabul University
Kabul University
Kabul University is located in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. It was founded in 1931 but officially opened for classes in 1932. Kabul University is currently attended by approximately 7,000 students, of which 1,700 are women. As of 2008, Hamidullah Amin is the chancellor of the university...
. As Chancellor of the University, he worked to institute a style of participatory governance among the faculty, students, and staff, advocating a vision of the university where men and women with skills and commitment to lead their country in the age of globalization can be trained.
Since leaving the university, Dr. Ghani has co-founded the Institute for State Effectiveness
Institute for State Effectiveness
The Institute for State Effectiveness is a non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. which seeks to develop integrated approaches to state-building and provide independent, authoritative and practical policy advice to the international community and national leaders who are tasked...
, of which he is Chairman. The Institute has put forward a framework which proposes that the state should perform ten functions in the contemporary world 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 at the Greentree Estates in September 2005. The program also proposes that the vehicle of state-building or sovereignty strategies, underpinned by 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 a sovereignty index to measure state effectiveness should be compiled on an annual basis.
Mr. Ghani was tipped as a candidate to succeed Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
as Secretary General of the United Nations at the end of 2006. His name was floated in a front page report in The Financial Times (September 18, 2006) which went on to quote him as saying, “I hope to win, through ideas.” Two distinguished experts on international relations told the paper that "the UN would be very lucky indeed to have him" and praised his "tremendous intellect, talent and capacity."
Doubts about his temperament seemed to be haunting him a few months later, in April 2007, when his name appeared as a possible candidate to head the World Bank.
Mr. Ghani has been sought as a public speaker and in 2005 given the keynote speeches for a number of meetings including the American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
’s International Rule of Law Symposium, the Trans-Atlantic Policy Network, the annual meeting of the Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
Government’s development staff, CSIS’ meeting on UN reform, the UN-OECD-World Bank’s meeting on Fragile States, and TEDGlobal. He has contributed to the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
, International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.
World Justice Project
Ashraf Ghani is on the Board of Directors of the World Justice ProjectWorld Justice Project
-Mainstreaming:The World Justice Project holds action-oriented meetings with leaders from a range of fields to mainstream rule of law advancement and make strengthening the rule of law as fundamental to the thinking and work of all professionals as it is to lawyers...
. The World Justice Project
World Justice Project
-Mainstreaming:The World Justice Project holds action-oriented meetings with leaders from a range of fields to mainstream rule of law advancement and make strengthening the rule of law as fundamental to the thinking and work of all professionals as it is to lawyers...
works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the Rule of Law
Rule of law
The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.
Role in post-Taliban Afghanistan
On March 31, 2004, he presented a seven-year program of public investment called Securing Afghanistan’s Future to an international conference in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
attended by 65 finance and foreign ministers. Described as the most comprehensive program ever prepared and presented by a poor country to the international community, Securing Afghanistan’s Future was prepared by a team of 100 experts working under the supervision of a committee chaired by Mr. Ghani. The concept of a double-compact, between the donors and the government of Afghanistan on the one hand and between the government and people of Afghanistan on the other, underpinned the program of investment in Securing Afghanistan’s Future. The donors pledged $8.2 billion at the conference for the first three years of the program –- the exact amount asked by the government—and agreed that the government’s request for a total seven-year package of assistance of $27.5 billion was justified.
The focus on poverty eradication through the creation of wealth and the establishment of the rights of citizenship has been at the heart of Mr. Ghani’s development approach. In Afghanistan, he is attributed with designing the National Solidarity Program, a program of bloc grants to villages in which elected village councils determine both the priorities and the mechanisms of implementation. The program currently covers 13,000 of the estimated 20,000 villages of the country. He also partnered with the Ministry of Communication to ensure that telecom licenses were granted on a fully transparent basis. As a result, the number of mobile phones in the country has jumped from 100 in July 2002 to over a million at the end of 2005. Private investment in the sector exceeded $200 million and the telecom sector emerged as one of the major sectors of revenue generation for government.
2009 Afghan presidential election
In January 2009 an article by Ahmad Majidyar of the American Enterprise InstituteAmerican Enterprise Institute
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and...
included Ghani on a list of fifteen possible candidates in the 2009 Afghan presidential election.
On May 7, 2009, Ashraf Ghani registered as a candidate in the Afghan presidential election, 2009
Afghan presidential election, 2009
The 2009 presidential election in Afghanistan was characterized by lack of security, low voter turnout and widespread ballot stuffing, intimidation, and other electoral fraud....
. In announcing his candidacy, Ghani emphasized the importance of: establishing a representative administration; good governance; building a dynamic economy and creating employment opportunities for the Afghan people. Unlike other major candidates, Ghani is specifically reaching out the Afghan diaspora to support his campaign and provide financial support. He has appointed Mohammed Ayub Rafiqi as one of his vice president candidate deputies, and hired noted Clinton-campaign chief strategist James Carville
James Carville
Chester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...
as a campaign advisor.
Preliminary results placed Ghani fourth in a field of 38. Ashraf Ghani finally ended up securing roughly 3% of the total votes.
Support to Afghan reconstruction
On January 28, 2010, Ashraf Ghani attended the International Conference on Afghanistan in London together with president Karzai, pledging his support to help rebuild their country. Ghani called his decision to accept an invitation to present his ideas to Karzai an example of the importance of cooperation among Afghans and with the international community for the country's progress. This move by Ghani was a boost for Karzai's strategy of reconciliation in Afghanistan Ghani said hearing Karzai's second inaugural address in November 2009 and his pledges to fight corruption, promote national reconciliation and take over from international security forces persuaded him that it was important to help,External links
- Presidential Campaign Website
- Afghan Elections Dossier - Ashraf Ghani, August 2009 - Radio France Internationale
- Financial Contributions to Ashraf Ghani's campaign
- The Institute for State Effectiveness
- Video of Ghani's presentation about mobilizing capital for state-building. (Recorded at the TED Conference July 2005 in Oxford, UK. Duration: 19:24)
- Authors@Google: Ashraf Ghani & Claire Lockhart A talk in Google New York office, June 20, 2008 (Duration: 1 hr)
- TED Talks: Ashraf Ghani on rebuilding broken states at TED GlobalTED (conference)TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
in 2005
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