Ashraf Ghani, former Minister of Finance of Afghanistan; Dean, Kabul University

Ashraf Ghani holds the post of Chancellor of Kabul University and is former Minister of Finance, Afghanistan. A native of Afghanistan, he has taught at Kabul University, Aarhus University, UC Berkeley, and Johns Hopkins University where he still holds an adjunct professorship. The main focus of his academic research is social theory, development and the political economy of state formation.

Prior to assuming his current post, Mr. Ghani spent several years as lead anthropologist at the World Bank. In October 2001 he became Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi. When the Taliban fell from power in Afghanistan and the Afghan Interim Administration took control, Dr. Ghani acted as the Chief Advisor to the Chairman Karzai. In April of 2002 Dr. Ghani was named the Executive Director of the Afghan Assistance Coordination Authority. From June 2002 to December 2004 he served as the Finance Minister of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan. He implemented a wide-ranging series of monetary and fiscal reforms, earning the Asia's Best Finance Minister of the Year Award in 2003. He carried out a comprehensive seven year public investment program of the country called Securing Afghanistan's Future, in response to which the donors pledged $8.2 billion for three years and agreed to consider an additional commitment of $19.3 billion in three years time.

In recognition of his services, he was awarded the Sayed Jamal-ud-Din Afghani medal, the highest civilian award in the country. Dr. Ghani has written for various publications, including the New York Times and Herald Tribune, and broadcast widely through the Persian and Pashtun services of the BBC and Voice of America.