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Ashraf Ghani: Rescuing Legitimacy in Afghanistan

October 15, 2009
Dr. Ashraf Ghani

Dr. Ashraf Ghani, a recent Afghan presidential candidate and founder of the Insititute for State Effectiveness, recommended policies to rescue government legitimacy and strengthen state functionality in Afghanistan in the wake of controversial August presidential elections.  Frederick Kempe, President and CEO of the Atlantic Council, moderated the event.

A credible, secure and inclusive presidential election on August 20 was intended to provide Afghanistan with a reliable leadership able to tackle the country's myriad challenges, but the deeply flawed electoral process produced a serious crisis of legitimacy within Afghanistan and created a major challenge for its external partners.  Rescuing legitimacy now requires acknowledgment of the gravity of this crisis and a systematic series of measures both in the Afghan government and the international community to regain the population's trust.

Dr. Ashraf Ghani, a former Afghan finance minister, contested the presidential elections in Afghanistan and is one of the few candidates to have drafted detailed policies for the future of the country; his Ten-Year Framework for Afghanistan report, published by the Atlantic Council in April 2009, outlines these measures.  He is a member of the Council's Strategic Advisory Group and its International Advisory Board.

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Ashraf Ghani is Chairman of the Institute for State Effectiveness, which exists to rethink the role of the state in the globalized world from the citizen perspective.  Dr. Ghani is also currently involved in a number of activities supporting the reform of global institutions, including work as a Commissioner on the UN High-Level Panel on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, as a Governor of IDEA and at the World Justice Project of the American Bar Association.  Recently, the Government of Afghanistan nominated him for the position of United Nations Secretary General.

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