Ashraf Ghani

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Ashraf Ghani Ahmadsai in July 2014

Ashraf Ghani Ahmadsai ( Ahmadsai is the tribe name; Pashtun محمد اشرف غني احمدزی DMG Muḥammad Ašraf Ġanī Aḥmadzay , born May 19, 1949 in Logar ) is an Afghan political scientist and President of Afghanistan since 2014 . He has been in exile since August 15, 2021 . Presumably he is in Tajikistan .

After Ghani officially dropped his tribal name Ahmadsai in 2014 , Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has been used as the name since then .

Life

Origin and professional career

The Pashtun Ashraf Ghani studied at the University of Kabul and at the American University in Beirut (where he met his wife Rula Ghani ) before moving to the United States on a scholarship in 1977. There he received his PhD in cultural anthropology from Columbia University in New York . From 1983 to 1991 he taught anthropology and political science at the University of California, Berkeley and at Johns Hopkins University . He later moved to the World Bank and helped with the transformation in Russia , the People's Republic of China and India .

Return to Afghanistan 2001

In December 2001, after a 24-year absence, he returned to Kabul , initially as a UN special envoy . From June 2, 2002 to December 14, 2004 he was finance minister and at the end of 2002 he was responsible for the currency reform of the new Afghani . He was Chancellor of the University of Kabul from December 22, 2004 to December 21, 2008 and in 2006 he was considered a possible candidate for the post of UN Secretary General . In the 2009 presidential election he received about 3% of the vote, coming in fourth place behind Hamid Karzai , Abdullah Abdullah and Ramasan Bashardost . In 2011 he was given the task of assuming security responsibility for Afghanistan from then President Hamid Karzai, which has been carried out by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) since 2001 .

Presidency

Ashraf Ghani with Rajiv Shah and Karl W. Eikenberry
President Ashraf Ghani with Abdullah Abdullah and John Kerry , July 2014

For the 2014 presidential election , he appointed the Uzbek warlord Raschid Dostum , who is known for his brutality, as his deputy in order to get votes in the non-Pashtun north as well. Ashraf used to describe Ghani Dostum as a "killer". In the first ballot on April 5, 2014, Ashraf Ghani received almost 32% of the vote, while his main rival candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, got 45%. Ghani was particularly successful in the Pashtun settlement areas, while Abdullah was successful in the Persian-speaking parts of the country. On June 14, 2014, there was a runoff between Ghani and Abdullah, with most of the other candidates having voted in favor of Abdullah in advance. The election result, according to which Ghani had achieved 56% of the vote, was therefore considered to be surprising. Ghani had gained 20% of the votes in the second ballot, while Abdullah had lost 3% despite the support of most of the eliminated candidates. The followers of Abdullah thereupon did not recognize the result and spoke of election fraud. In a compromise that was reached through the mediation of US Secretary of State John Kerry , both sides agreed to recount the votes. On September 21, Ghani was officially declared the winner of the election without the exact numbers of the results of the vote recount being disclosed. At the same time it became known that the office of prime minister would be filled with a steward of Abdullah as part of a settlement between the two opponents. On September 29, 2014, Ghani was sworn in as President.

He also ran in the 2019 presidential election in Afghanistan . Without the votes already being counted, his rival Abdullah Abdullah claimed victory for himself, and Ghani also declared himself the winner. On November 13, 2019, the electoral commission announced that the announcement of the results would be postponed.

The preliminary results were only announced by the Commission on December 22, 2019, the final results on February 18, 2020. The Independent Electoral Commission announced Ghani as the election winner with 50.64% of the vote.

Abdullah Abdullah rejected the results and announced the formation of a parallel government in northern Afghanistan. On February 22, 2020, Abdullah appointed a new governor loyal to him for Sar-i Pul Province . The American diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad tried to mediate between Ghani and Abdullah, but the two failed to reach an agreement. Both took the presidential oath at separate inauguration ceremonies on March 9, 2020, with Ghani being sworn in for a second term. A short time later, Ghani abolished the office of head of government held by Abdullah, while Abdullah issued a statement that "Ghani was no longer president" and that his decrees were invalid.

On March 23, 2020, the United States announced that it would cut its aid to Afghanistan by $ 1 billion as a result of the political crisis. If Ghani and Abdullah fail to reach an agreement, aid could be further cut. The political crisis did not end until May 17, 2020, when Ghani and Abdullah signed a power-sharing agreement.

Conquest of Kabul by the Taliban and exile

After the USA, Germany and other countries began to withdraw their military forces from Afghanistan in mid-2021, the Taliban gradually conquered more and more parts of the country. On August 15, 2021, the Taliban advanced into Kabul and demanded the peaceful transfer of power by the Afghan government. Ghani, who had addressed the Afghan people in a televised address the day before and announced that the Afghan government would regain control of the entire country, finally bowed to the demands of the Taliban and received their representatives in the presidential palace in Kabul. The Afghan Interior Ministry then announced a peaceful transfer of power to the Taliban. According to media reports, Ghani left Afghanistan on the afternoon of August 15, 2021. Several media initially reported that Ghani had been flown to the Tajik capital, Dushanbe . According to the news channel Al-Jazeera, Ghani is said to be in the Uzbek capital Tashkent . According to the spokesman for the Russian embassy in Kabul, Ghani is said to have carried large amounts of cash out of the country during his escape.

World justice project

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the World Justice Project . In 2013, Ghani was listed in second place in the “World Thinkers” ranking by Prospect magazine .

Private

Ashraf Ghani is married to the Lebanese Christian Rula Ghani and has two children, Tarek and Mariam Ghani .

Web links

Commons : Ashraf Ghani Ahmadsai  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. twitter.com
  2. Ghani: Wanted to prevent a bloodbath. In: Tagesschau. August 15, 2021, accessed on August 15, 2021 (German): "Time: 21:10"
  3. ^ Afghanistan's president fled - Taliban about to take power. August 15, 2021, accessed August 17, 2021 .
  4. ^ Ashraf Ghani: Production and Domination: Afghanistan, 1747-1901. PhD Dissertation, Columbia University (1982). wordpress.com (PDF)
  5. a b Ashraf Ghani Ahmadsai. Retrieved April 5, 2014 .
  6. ^ Afghan presidential candidates agree vote audit. BBC News, July 12, 2014, accessed September 24, 2014 .
  7. ^ What the Afghan power-sharing deal means. BBC News, September 21, 2014, accessed September 25, 2014 .
  8. Abdullah declares himself the winner. Retrieved August 16, 2021 .
  9. ^ Afghanistan's Presidential Poll Results Delayed Again . In: Voice of America . Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  10. a b Pamela Constable: Afghanistan's Ghani wins slim majority in presidential vote, preliminary results show . In: The Washington Post , December 22, 2019. 
  11. Will the Ghani-Abdullah rivalry undermine Afghan peace process? . Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  12. ^ Abdullah-Loyal Governor Installed in Sar-e-Pul . In: TOLOnews . Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  13. Amid Controversy, Ghani Takes Oath of Office . In: TOLOnews . Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  14. Shereena Qazi: Ghani sworn in as Afghan president, rival holds own inauguration , Al Jazeera. Retrieved March 12, 2020. 
  15. Ghani, By Decree, 'Abolishes' Chief Executive Office . In: TOLOnews . Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  16. 'Ghani is No Longer President': Abdullah . In: TOLOnews . Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  17. US slashes aid to Afghanistan after Pompeo visit to Kabul . In: AP NEWS . March 23, 2020. Accessed March 29, 2020.
  18. ^ Afghanistan: Afghan presidential contenders sign unity deal . June 23, 2016. 
  19. ^ Afghanistan: Inside John Kerry's Diplomatic Save in Afghanistan . June 23, 2016. 
  20. n-tv NEWS: Taliban announce "inclusive Islamic government". Retrieved August 15, 2021 .
  21. ^ Afghanistan: President Ghani gives televised address. Retrieved August 15, 2021 (German).
  22. tagesschau.de: Live blog about Afghanistan: According to the US embassy, ​​shots at the airport. Retrieved August 15, 2021 .
  23. Leah Sinclair: Taliban enter Kabul as Afghan president 'flees country'. August 15, 2021, accessed August 15, 2021 .
  24. Ramy Allahoum: Taliban enters presidential palace after Ghani leaves Afghanistan. Accessed August 15, 2021 .
  25. Ares Abasi: Afghanistan: President Ghani disappeared - fleeing the Taliban in a "helicopter full of money" . From fr.de on August 17, 2021, accessed on August 17, 2021