The Aspen Institute

Please join us for a live public conversation with President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani to hear his view on Kabul’s most pressing national security and foreign policy challenges of the day.

Speaker

Ashraf Ghani
President of Afghanistan
@ashrafghani
President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani grew up in Afghanistan, but pursued his education outside of the country. During this time, Ghani became a leading scholar of Political Science and Anthropology, later working at the World Bank. Following the fall of the Taliban in 2001, he returned to Afghanistan to advise interim President Karzai and serve as the Finance Minister of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan. During his tenure as Finance Minister, he designed a package of reforms and initiated several public investment programs.
In 2010, he became Chairman of the Transition Coordination Commission (TCC), which was responsible for transferring authority from foreign to national troops. He resigned from the TCC to run for president in October 2013 and was declared the winner on September 22, 2014. Ghani was re-elected on September 28, 2019.

In Conversation With

Carol Lee
NBC News Correspondent
@carolelee
Carol Lee is an NBC News Correspondent appearing across NBC News’ and MSNBC flagship news programs and reporting regularly for NBC News Digital. Lee is one of the network’s lead reporters covering all aspects of government, national security, and foreign policy. 

Prior to joining NBC News, Lee covered the White House for The Wall Street Journal and POLITICO. She previously served as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, and was a member of the association’s board from 2010 to 2016. 

Lee is a graduate of New York University’s school of journalism and lives in Washington with her son, Hudson.

Introduced By

Anja Manuel
Director, Aspen Strategy Group
Co-Founder and Partner, Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC
@AnjaManuel1
Former diplomat, author, and advisor, Anja Manuel is Co-Founder and Partner in Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC. She is the author of This Brave New World: India, China, and the United States. Earlier in her career, she served as an official at the U.S. Department of State, an attorney at WilmerHale, and an investment banker at Salomon Brothers. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Stanford University, Manuel now lectures at Stanford University. She currently serves on the boards of Overseas Shipping Group, Inc., Ripple Labs Inc., Flexport Inc., Synapse Inc., Center for a New American Security, American Ditchley Foundation, and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. She recently served on Former Governor Brown’s California Export Council. She is a frequent commentator for TV and radio and writes for publications including the New York Times, the Financial Times, and the Atlantic. She is the Director of the Aspen Strategy Group and Aspen Security Forum.