Biography of Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai

Ashraf Ghani president of Afghanistan

Summary of Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai’s Biography

• Name: “Ashraf Ghani” (in Dari/Farsi “اشرف غنی”)
• last name: “Ahamadzai” (in Dari/Farsi “احمدزی”)
• father name: Shahjan “Ahamadzai”
• Mother name: Kawkaba Lodin
• Siblings: Hashmat Ghani Ahmadzai
• Spouse: Rula (Saade) Ghani/Bibi gul (afghani version)
• Children: Mariam Ghani, Tariq Ghani
• Date of Birth/ Age: February 12, 1949/ 72 Year old as of 2021
• Place of Birth: Logar, Afghanistan
• Height/weight: 5'7" (170 cm)/72 kg
• Nationality: Afghanistan, United States (1964 - 2009) 
• Religion/ Sect: Islam/ Suni
• Profession/ Educational Qualification/ Occupation: Politician, Scholar, University teacher, economist, anthropologist
• School: Habibia Highschool, Kabul
• Colleges/Universities: American University in Beirut, Lebanon, 
• Columbia University, New York, USA 
• Kabul University, Kabul, Afghanistan
• Years of Activity:
• President of Afghanistan from 2014 to 15 August 2021
• Chancellor of Kabul University 22nd December 2004 to 21st December 2008
• Minister finance  of 2002 to 2004 
• World bank 1991 to 2001, for eleven years
• Anthropology's professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore 1983-1991
• Anthropology's professor at University of California, Berkeley1983 
• Teacher/Lecturer/Professor of Anthropology and Afghan studies at Kabul university 1974-1977  and etc.

PERSONAL LIFE 

His name is Ashraf Ghani, his last name is Ahmadzai and his father name is Shahjan “Ahamadzai”. Ashraf Ghani was born on 19 May 1949 in the Logar Province in the Kingdom of Afghanistan to Shah Pesand and Kawkaba lodin family, a clerk worker, who hailed from Kandahar. He belongs to the Ahmadzai Pashtun tribe. 

He was diagnosed with cancer and had to have part or most of his stomach removed.

PARENTS AND SIBLINGS 

His father's name is Shahjan “Ahamadzai”, who served King Zahir Shah in many ministerial roles, last holding the title of Minister of Transport from the late 1950s until the King was deposed in 1973. His mother name is Kawkaba lodin, there is not much information available about her. The number of his siblings is not known. Hashmat Ghani Ahmadzai is his brother born on October 29, 1960 (age 61 as of December 2021) in Logar, Afghanistan. Hashmat Ghani Ahmadzai is the chief of the Grand Council of Kuchis, and is among the wealthiest and most influential Kuchis, thanks to a large family inheritance based on land ownership as well as a successful transport company.

MARITAL STATUS/ SPOUSE and Children

he is married, he is married to Rula Saadeh Ghani known as Bibi gul in Afghanistan, born in 1948. She completed a master's degree in Political Studies from the American University of Beirut in 1974, where she had met her future husband, Ashraf Ghani. The couple married in 1975 and have two children: a daughter, Mariam Ghani, a Brooklyn-based visual artist, and a son, Tariq Ghani. Rula Ghani earned another master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York City in 1983.

Rula Ghani holds citizenship in Afghanistan, Lebanon, and the United States. She reportedly speaks Arabic, English, French, Pashto and Dari.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND and PROFESSIONAL LIFE/CARRIER

Ghani went on to attend Habibia high school in Kabul. For his Bachelor’s degree, Ghani attended the American University of Beirut for Anthropology. At the time the American University of Beirut was a world-renowned learning establishment.

After his bachelor degree from the American University of Beirut, Ghani came back to Afghanistan to teach at Kabul University and subsequently won a government scholarship to attend Columbia University in New York City to pursue his Master’s degree in 1977.

During his studies, the communists invaded Afghanistan, and most of Ghani’s family was imprisoned, so Ghani stayed put in the United States, and started working on his PhD, also at Columbia. His thesis was titled ‘Production and domination: Afghanistan, 1747-1901’. This would be a foreshadowing of Ghani’s career and later works, mixing Anthropology and Economics.

After his PhD studies, Ghani moved on to teaching at universities around the U.S, as well as working for BBC’s Pashto and Dari units, broadcasting to Afghanistan. Throughout the time of war in Afghanistan, Ghani worked at the World Bank. After the 2001 American-led invasion and removal of the Taliban from power, Ghani went back to Afghanistan and worked as Finance Minister (under Hamid Karzai) and Chancellor of Kabul University. Ghani also co-founded the Institute for State Effectiveness 2005. Together with Clare Lockhart, Ghani wrote a book titled The Framework: Fixing Failed States published in 2008 with Oxford University Press.

Ghani moved between the East and the West, giving TED talks in English to sold out audiences, and never letting his Pashto falter in a room full of elders. When Ghani ran for President of Afghanistan in 2014, he was a top contender because of this fact, because of his seamless permeability into both territories. He was Afghanistan’s modern-day technocrat, yet at the same time staunchly Pashtun.

When Ghani was declared the winner of the election, he agreed to a compromise – making Abdullah Abdullah the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) – a newly created position- to avoid a potential parallel government being set up. Abdullah agreed after intense pressure from the United States, as they had threatened to stop all aid if he didn’t.

So far, Ghani has meant well, trying to rid the country of corruption, making surprise visits to hospitals, and cutting down the Palace’s expenditure. However, the Taliban have encroached closer on Kabul than they have ever before.

Note: Ashraf Ghani’s full name is Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, however, he prefers to go by just Ashraf Ghani, and has made a formal request regarding this. Many believe that during the 2014 presidential elections, he used his full name (Ahmadzai) when campaigning in order to further identify himself as a Pashtun.

Awards 

Controversies

On 2 February 2020, Ashraf Ghani made controversial remarks while talking about Timur and Muhammad of Ghor[99] which angered the Uzbek population of Afghanistan. He made those remarks while delivering a speech to a group of Afghan students on History, Culture, and National Identity. 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 referred to Turkic conqueror Amir Timur by his Persian-origin epithet "Timur Lang" (Timur the Lame) and stated that Timur wiped out the irrigation system for Sistan, Farah, and Helmand provinces. His remarks regarding Timur were considered offensive to Uzbeks, according to experts, and drew condemnation from Afghanistan's Uzbek population.

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. Abdul Rashid Dostum, former vice president of Afghanistan and an ethnic Uzbek, also demanded an apology from Ashraf Ghani. Bashir Ahmad Tahyanj, the spokesperson of the National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, said that "Ghani has a personal bias towards historic figures, honourable ethnicities, the history and culture of the people who live in Afghanistan. This is not his first time.” 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".

Another major criticism Ghani encountered, especially in international eyes, was taking General Abdul Rashid Dostum as his running mate (after calling him a known killer in an earlier interview). Of course, Afghan presidential candidates try to garner as much support by having a “well-rounded” ballot, representing different ethnic groups, areas, sects, and since Dostum has a lot of support in the North, juxtaposed with Ghani’s ‘Pashtunism’, it makes sense but is a bit jarring.

PHOTOS’

Ashraf Ghani, Abdullah Abdullah and John Kerry

Mariam Ghani Daughter of Ashraf Ghani

Young Ashraf Ghani

Ashraf Ghani and his wife Rula Ghani

Mariam Ghani Daughter of Ashraf Ghani

Tariq Ghani son of Ashraf Ghani