Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai[a] (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan former politician, academic, and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was overthrown by the Taliban.

[10] His position was also weakened by political rivalries,[10] his attempt to lessen the power of ex-warlords,[13] and an uneasy relationship with the United States regarding the war.

[20] Ghani was born on 19 May 1949 in the Logar Province in the Kingdom of Afghanistan to Shah Pesand, a clerk worker, and Kawbaba Lodin, who hailed from Kandahar.

[27] While Ghani originally intended to stay for two years, the outbreak of the 1978 Saur Revolution led to much of his male family being imprisoned.

After the ousting of the Taliban that year, Ghani became a key figure in the Afghan Interim Administration, which lasted from December 2001 until July 2002.

He carried out extensive reforms, including issuing a new currency, computerizing treasury operations, instituting a single treasury account, adopting a policy of balanced budgets and using budgets as the central policy instrument, centralizing revenue collection, tariff reform and overhauling customs.

In 2005, he became a member of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, an independent initiative hosted by the United Nations Development Programme.

At the end of 2006, the Financial Times ran a front-page report speculating that Ghani was a top candidate to succeed Kofi Annan as secretary-general of the United Nations.

"[34][35] 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.

Ghani's campaign emphasized the importance of a representative administration, good governance, a dynamic economy and employment opportunities for the Afghan people.

[27] On 28 January 2010, Ghani attended the International Conference on Afghanistan in London, pledging his support to help rebuild their country.

Ghani said hearing Karzai's second inaugural address in November 2009 and his pledges to fight corruption, promote reconciliation and replace international security forces persuaded him to help.

[citation needed] 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.

During his tenure, Ghani strengthened ties with Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan, with which it has made deals to increase mutual trading.

[59] Tolo News while quoting an unnamed source alleged that Ashraf Ghani had refused to take a call from the Pakistani prime minister, instead he sent a NDS delegation to hand over evidence that the terrorists were supported by Pakistan.

He voiced the idea that a stable Afghanistan can act as a bridge between Central, South, and West Asia, given the country's centrist location.

[67][68][69] 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.

[70] In March 2021, in an attempt to advance peace talks, Ghani expressed his intentions of convincing the Taliban to hold fresh elections and allow forming of a new government through a democratic process.

[72][73] Many of the Kabul residents held Ghani responsible for the attack and raised loud chants against the Afghan government and security forces.

[76] On the same day, Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan reported that the Taliban would not negotiate or hold peace talks with the government as long as Ghani remains as the president.

[89][90] In an 18 August taped address from the UAE, Ghani said he fled to avoid being hanged, and vowed to eventually return to Afghanistan.

[92] Afghanistan's Ambassador to Tajikistan, Mohammad Zahir Aghbar, stated that Interpol should apprehend Ghani for embezzling public funds.

[93] The Russian embassy in Kabul alleged that Ghani fled with "four cars and a helicopter" full of cash and had to leave some money behind as it would not all fit in.

"[96] On 8 September 2021, Ghani released a video where he apologized to the Afghan people and repeated that he left to avoid "bloody street fighting".

[100] On the anniversary of Ghani's departure, he commented: The reason I left was because I did not want to give the Taliban and their supporters the pleasure of yet again humiliating an Afghan president and making him sign over the legitimacy of the government [...] I've never been afraid.

"[102] Ghani is a progressive modernist with the belief and goal to "transform Afghanistan from a tribal, patronage-based society to a modern technocratic state".

[105] On 2 February 2020, Ashraf Ghani made controversial remarks while talking about Timur and Muhammad of Ghor[106] which angered the Uzbek population of Afghanistan.

[109] Abdul Rashid Dostum, former vice president of Afghanistan and an ethnic Uzbek, also demanded an apology from Ashraf Ghani.

[1] Ashraf and Rula Ghani have two children, a daughter, Mariam, a Brooklyn-based visual artist,[114] and a son, Tarek, who was a national security and foreign policy advisor to 2020 presidential candidate, Pete Buttigieg.

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.