Ghani, Ashraf (Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai), 1949–, Afghan political leader, president of Afghanistan (2014–), Ph.D Columbia, 1983. Trained as an cultural anthropologist, he taught at Kabul Univ. (1974–77), Univ. of California, Berkeley (1983), and Johns Hopkins Univ. (1983–91). After working for the World Bank (1991–2001), he returned to Afghanistan, becoming finance minister under Hamid Karzai (2002–4) and chancellor of Kabul Univ. (2005–9). Ghani cofounded the Institute for State Effectiveness with British human-rights lawyer Clare Lockhart (2006) and ran unsuccessfully for president of Afghanistan (2009). In the 2014 presidential election, he defeated Abdullah Abdullah in the runoff, which was marred by charges of fraud. The two signed a power-sharing agreement in Sept., 2014; Ghani was sworn in as president, and Abdullah became chief executive. He was reelected in Sept., 2019, though the result was not confirmed until Feb., 2020. Ghani has written Fixing Failed States (2008, with C. Lockhart).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Central Asian History: Biographies
