Tel: +94 11 2589376
Fax: +94 11 25893699
E-mail: mashrafhaidari@sacep.org
M. Ashraf Haidari is the Director-General of the South Asia Cooperative Environment Program (SACEP), and concurrently serves as the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Sri Lanka. He was the Director-General of Policy and Strategy of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan from 2015-2018. Prior to this, he served as Afghanistan’s Deputy Chief of Mission (Minister Counselor) to India for three years, before which he was Afghanistan’s Deputy Assistant National Security Advisor for Policy and Oversight. Haidari also served more than two terms at the Embassy of Afghanistan in the United States in various capacities including: Chargé d’Affaires, Deputy Chief of Mission, Political Counselor, and Acting Defense Attaché. Moreover, he formerly worked with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Program (WFP) in Afghanistan and Switzerland.
Haidari is a writer and TV and radio commentator on Afghanistan, regional, and international affairs. He has held senior research and visiting fellowship-positions at the New America (NA) in Washington-DC; the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) in Kabul; the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and Delhi Policy Group (DPG) in New Delhi, as well as the Institute of National Security Studies of Sri Lanka (INSSSL) in Colombo. He is a member of the editorial board of the Diplomatist Magazine in New Delhi and a blog-contributor at the Center for Public Diplomacy, University of Southern California.
Haidari holds a Master of Arts in security studies (international security and development) from the Georgetown University Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service in Washington D.C., and a Bachelor of Arts in political science and international relations from Wabash College in Indiana. In both of his degree programs, focusing on international security and development, he extensively studied, researched, and wrote on environmental security and the adverse impact of climate change on sustainable development at the regional and global levels. During 2002-2003, Haidari was a Fellow in Foreign Service at the Georgetown University Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.
Haidari is the recipient of many public and academic awards, including: The Fredrick J. Urbaska Civic Service Award, National Association of Wabash Men (NAWM), Indiana, 2011; The Fellowship in Foreign Service Award; Georgetown University, Washington DC, 2002; and The F. Michael Cassel Award; Wabash College Political Science Department, Indiana, 1999. The life and achievements of Haidari have been publicly recognized and featured in numerous international publications.
Alongside Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Haidari serves on the board of the Louis and Nancy Hatch Dupree Foundation. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Biruni Institute, and previously served on the board of the Roots of Peace. In addition, he formerly served as a trustee of the Afghan Education Peace Foundation.
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