By: Fazal Ahmad Rahel

Photo by Ali Omid

Dr. Ramazan Bashardost, Afghanistan’s former Planning Minister and current Member of Parliament, is an Independent Candidate in the upcoming Presidential Elections. His office is a small tent erected on the shoulder of the highway that runs in front of the Afghan parliament building. Inside, a tattered flag of Afghanistan hangs behind a small desk that is surrounded by a half dozen plastic chairs. Seated behind the desk is the slightly built Dr. Ramazan Bashardost, a former cabinet minister in the Karzai government turned anti-corruption crusader, and if he has his way, the future president of Afghanistan.

As a strong proponent for human rights for all Afghans, President Hamid Karzai appointed Bashardost as his minister of planning in 2004. In this capacity, he undertook a study of the effectiveness of the foreign and Afghan NGOs operating in the country. At that time there were approximately 2,300 agencies registered, employing nearly 52,000 people throughout Afghanistan.

“I recommended closing down over 1,900 of those NGOs that were in operation because they were not actually providing aid to the people,” he says. “People were spending $10,000 a month renting massive houses and hiring members of their own families at exorbitant salaries–and no one was benefiting from their work.”

When President Karzai refused to act upon Bashardost’s recommendation to shut down the ineffective NGOs, he quit the cabinet and was eventually elected as an independent member of parliament.

One of the key messages that Bashardost keeps repeating is that the foreign aid being pumped into Afghanistan is more than sufficient to rebuild the country.

“To date, more than $60 billion has been provided in aid to this country, which is more than ten times the pre-2001 annual GDP,” he says. “But most of that money has ended up heading back out of Afghanistan rather than into the hands of Afghans.”

One of the reasons for this is that most of the foreign aid-funded reconstruction projects are contracted out to foreign companies. Afghan construction firms end up providing laborers as sub-contractors, but the majority of the highly paid specialists and material are imported and therefore the money does not remain in Afghanistan. By eliminating the government corruption and maximizing the aid money already allocated to Afghanistan, Bashardost intends to then eliminate the rampant illegal drug trade.

When asked just how exactly he intends to eradicate Afghanistan of its warlords, corrupt politicians and drug lords when he possesses no private army of his own, Bashardost simply shrugs his shoulders and says, “It will be the people’s will.”

After excusing himself from the interview, he steps through the tent flap and drives off in a battered little old car. It is hard not to admire the fact that this solitary man with virtually no means actually believes he can achieve his goal.

Ramazan Bashardost was born in 1965 in Qarabagh District, Ghazni Province of Afghanistan, in a family of Government employees. He completed his primary and intermediate education in Qarabagh and later in Maimana, capital of Fariyab in northern Afghanistan. Months after the 1978 coup d’etat, Bashardost left Afghanistan for Iran. He finished high school in Iran and then immigrated to Pakistan.

In 1983, he left Pakistan for France where he spent over 20 years, earning degrees in law and political science. In 1989 he enrolled at Garonable University where he did his Masters in Law. In 1990, he did his Masters in Diplomacy from Paris University. In 1992, he did his Masters in Political Science. In 1995, Bashardost received his Ph.D in Law from France’s Tolos University. He wrote his thesis on the UN’s role against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Recent years

After years in exile, Bashardost returned to Afghanistan in 2002 to work in the UN Department of Afghanistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry. In 2003, he was appointed as Director of European and Western Political Affairs Department in Foreign Affairs Ministry.

In 2004 Bashardost published his book Basic Political, Military, and Diplomatic Laws of Afghanistan- from the era of Ahmad Shah Baba (1225 Hejri) to current years, in which he presented his analysis of the history of laws in Afghanistan. The book won an award at the Academy of Political Sciences of France, the first award won by an independent Afghan scientist and Scholar.

Dr. Bashardost has no affiliations with any tribal, military, or political party. He is an independent scholar and Political activist, well known for his support and defense of Human rights. He is well known as a prominent voice against the corrupt Afghan authorities for the past three decades, and a bold reformer and critic of the government.

In 2004/05 he briefly served as Afghanistan’s Planning Minister. He was critical of the role played by NGO’s and claimed that majority of them were a source of Afghanistan money drain. He particularly highlighted the hefty amounts paid to the NGO employees and ministers as compared to the average income of less than a dollar average national income. Controversy surrounded his stance and he had to resign under government and foreign pressure. However, his outspoken criticism of the government, his firm stance against corruption and for public welfare, won him widespread support.

In 2006 he was elected as Kabul’s representative in Parliamentary Elections. He won the third highest number of votes, which spanned across ethnic and linguistic groups.

Presidential Nominee

In April 2005, he announced his intention to stand as a candidate in Afghanistan’s upcoming 2009 elections. He claims to be the clear winner unless the election is rigged.

Tags | Bashardost, Parliament Member