Shahmahmood Miakhel (also spelled Shah Mahmood Miakhel; *01.05.1958 in Kunar, Afghanistan) (

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...

: شاه محمود میاخېل) is an

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

politician. He was the appointed

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

for Afghanistan to

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

before the Taliban overthrew the government. During the reign of Ashraf Ghani, he was considered one of the most influential politicians.

Life

Miakhel earned his Master of Business Administration from Preston University in Pakistan. He also studied agriculture at Kabul University and completed a fellowship program at Stanford University on democracy, development and the rule of law. He has been a member of numerous NGOs and government organizations, including UN sub-organizations.

Political career

From 2005 to 2009, he was governance advisor/head of the governance unit of the United Nations Assistance Mission (UNAMA) for Afghanistan. Miakhel first gained notoriety as Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Interior in 2003 to 2005. From September 2009 to February 2019, he served as Country Director at the

United States Institute of Peace The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American Federal government of the United States, federal institution tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. It provides research, analysis, and training to individual ...

. He gained a high-profile and popularity especially among the population through the confidence of former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who appointed him as governor in Nangarhar. Also during his time in Nangarhar, he succeeded in becoming the first governor in history to ban and sanction foreign currencies. He banned the circulation of

Pakistani rupee The Pakistani rupee ( ur, / ALA-LC: ; sign: Re (singular) and Rs (plural); ISO code: PKR) is the official currency of Pakistan since 1948. The coins and notes are issued and controlled by the central bank, namely State Bank of Pakistan. In ...

s in Nangarhar after they had been used as Afghan currency in the local market for four decades. Since December 12, 2019, it was forbidden to pay with Rupee or other to pay foreign currencies. According to Afghan statistics, at the time, Nangarhar province was safer than it had ever been. After his voluntary resignation, he was tagged as deputy

defense minister A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

. Due to a prolonged illness of the Defense Minister

Asadullah Khalid Asadullah Khalid is a politician in Afghanistan. He served as head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), which is the domestic intelligence agency of Afghanistan. Before his appointment as the head of the NDS in September 2012, Khalid ser ...

, Shahmahmood Miakhel became acting

Minister of Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

. He served from March 11, 2021, to June 25, 2021, and resigned due to internal issues. Miakhel was to be sent to Qatar as ambassador to also participate in the Taliban peace talks.

Private life

Miakhel is married with seven (4 boys and 3 girls) children and holds U.S. citizenship. Miakhel is known for engaging with citizens and critics on social media like Facebook on a daily basis and fighting corruption. He advocates for women's rights and is an opponent of the current Afghan Taliban government. He has survived several attacks.

References

{{Reflist 1958 births Living people People from Kunar Province Ambassadors of Afghanistan Ambassadors to Qatar