M. Ashraf Haidari ( @MAshrafHaidari ) has been Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka since 2018, and concurrently served as the Director-General of the South Asia Cooperative Environment Program (SACEP) until recently. 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. And before this, he was Afghanistan’s Deputy Assistant National Security Advisor for Policy and Oversight at the Office of the President. From 2004-2011, Ambassador Haidari served 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.
Ambassador Haidari is a writer, analyst, and TV and radio commentator on Afghanistan, regional and international affairs. He has held senior research and visiting fellowship positions at major international think-tanks, including the Institute of National Security Studies of Sri Lanka (INSSSL) in Colombo, the New America (NA) in Washington-D.C., the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) in Kabul, the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and the Delhi Policy Group (DPG) in New Delhi. He holds a Master of Arts in Security Studies (International Security and Development) from the Georgetown University 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. During 2002-2003, Ambassador Haidari was a Fellow in Foreign Service at the Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service.
Ambassador Haidari serves on the board of the Louis and Nancy Hatch Dupree Foundation in New York. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Biruni Institute in Kabul, and previously served on the board of the Roots of Peace in California. Ambassador Haidari is the recipient of several public and academic awards, and his life and achievements have been publicly recognized and featured in international publications. This past December, he received the Global Citizen Award from the Roots of Peace, which recognized his relentless humanitarian diplomacy.
Ambassador Haidari was born and grew up in Afghanistan and shares a personal story that resonates with millions of other ordinary Afghans touched by decades of conflict. He experienced these hardships firsthand both under the Soviet occupation in 1980s and the Taliban rule in 1990s. He is married and has one son.
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