Scott Guggenheim is an American expert in international development and senior advisor to Afghan president Ashraf Ghani.
While studying for his doctorate, he began working at the World Bank, where he focused on the negative impacts of large investment projects.
After completed his PhD, he worked in Somalia on behalf of the World Bank to conduct an environmental assessment for their project of building a dam.
Other projects include the National Emergency Solidarity and Employment project in Afghanistan, which was the first community development and emergency public works program in the country and the Empowerment of Female-Headed Household (PEKKA) program which supports advocacy and micro-finance for poor widows in conflict areas across Indonesia.
During a protest in Kabul on June 2, 2017, posters appeared with his face and text in Dari that read Ghani ba ehsara-e en shakhs meraqsad, “Ghani dances on the order of this man.” It is said that "his imprimatur is on many major government policies that have come out of the Gul Khanna.