H.E. Ambassador M.Ashraf Haidari
Node Chair Afghanistan / Director SAFN Afghanistan
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.
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.
Masom Jan Masomy
Research Fellow SAFN
Masom Jan Masomy is an assistant professor and researcher at the Regional Studies Center, Afghanistan Academy of Sciences in Kabul, Afghanistan. Before this, he was a junior assistant professor at the Journalism Institute of Social Sciences Centre in Afghanistan Academy of Sciences. He has more than six years of experience in academic and administrative areas of his career, from 2016 to the present. As an alumnus of the South Asia Foundation fellowship, he holds a master's degree in South Asia affairs from 2019 to 2021 from Pondicherry University in India and holds a bachelor's degree in Journalism from 2010-2013 from Shaikh Zayed University in Khost, Afghanistan. As such, he has published dozens of research publications and commentaries on different journals, global research institutes, and media platforms, focusing on South Asia particularly Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan affairs.
His research interests include political, economic, and security issues happening in the greater region of Central and South Asia most particularly on Afghanistan-related issues.
Meanwhile, Masom Jan Masomy currently contributes as a reviewer with the International Journal of Politics and Security, and an editorial board member at the Afghanistan Journal. Additionally, he is working on a research project titled "SAARC Organization: Challenges, Opportunities and its Impacts on Afghanistan", exploring roles, links, and gaps of SAARC and its so-called role in Afghanistan. He also actively attends and joins in place and online debates, seminars, and conferences to create an influential role as a young scholar for policy and practice.
Apart from that Masom Jan Masomy is interested in Climate Change and environmental security, thereby he was an International Youth Climate Delegate from Afghanistan at COP28 2023 hosted by the United Arab Emirates in Dubai 2023 where he participated as a young delegate from November 26 to December 12 2023, representing and reflecting the voice of youth, children and women in Afghanistan who have been continuously affected by long term conflicts and climate change severe impacts.