Prior to his current position, he served as a chief of staff of peacekeeping operations in Georgia's conflict zones in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

[1] Kurashvili finished faculty of law of Tbilisi State University in 1996 and Moscow Malinovsky Military Academy in 1999.

After finishing service in the Soviet Army he began his military career in National Guard of Georgia in 1990.

He served at various senior positions in Georgian army including Deputy Chief of the National Guard Security Group (1991–1993), Commandant of Tbilisi Military Garrison (2004–2005), Chief of Special Operation Brigade of Ministry of Defense (2005) and Commander of Georgian peacekeeping battalion in structure of the mixed peacekeeping forces in the Georgian–Ossetian conflict zone (2006–2007).

[2] On August 7, 2008, at the beginning of Russo-Georgian War, he informed his Russian counterparts about the imminent military operation before announcing to Rustavi 2 television that Georgian forces were moving to "establish constitutional order in the Ossetian region."