Ali Maisam Nazary (Persian: علی میثم نظری, born 1990) is an Afghan politician; since August 2021, he has been Head of Foreign Relations for the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF).

Ali Maisam Nazary
National Resistance Front of Afghanistan
Head of Foreign Relations
Assumed office
August 2021
LeaderAhmad Massoud
Preceded byOffice established
Personal details
Born1990 (age 33–34)
Political partyNational Resistance Front of Afghanistan
Other political
affiliations
Massoud Foundation
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles
London School of Economics
WebsiteTwitter

Education

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Ali Nazary is an alumnus of the University of California, Los Angeles and the London School of Economics.[1][2] He graduated from UCLA in 2012, with a degree in political science and Middle Eastern studies, and from LSE in 2013 with a master's in international relations.[3][4]

Career

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Ali Nazary began his career in communications at Khorasan TV, hosting a weekly show on politics and current affairs in Afghanistan. He then was Director of Media Affairs for Abdullah Abdullah's 2014 presidential campaign, and following the election, Nazary took a hiatus from politics to work as an Afghan and Central Asian government relations specialist at Bellwether Partners, overseeing international relations consulting and management projects.[5] In 2016, he also became president of the Massoud Foundation USA, the U.S. branch of the Massoud family's Afghanistan based relief organization, a position he continues to hold, being entrusted to perform duties such as transcribing and translating portions of Ahmad Shah Massoud's diary for usage in publication.[2][6] In the summer of 2018, Nazary received confidential information that the American government was seeking to enter into direct negotiations with the Taliban and from that point onwards he became a staunch critic of the resulting Doha Agreement (2020).[7][8] In September 2019, he attended a large rally of over 30,000 people in Panjshir that led to the launch of Ahmad Massoud's political movement, of which Nazary became a founding member.[9]

National Resistance Front

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As tensions between the Taliban and the government grew amidst the drawdown of NATO forces from Afghanistan, Nazary served as a chief foreign policy advisor and a liaison between Ahmad Massoud and foreign diplomats up until his departure from Kabul a few days after August 15, 2021.[10] With the fall of Kabul and Ashraf Ghani's flight from the country, Massoud allied with Vice President Amrullah Saleh (who had assumed the role of Acting President)[11] to form the National Resistance Front, based in Panjshir.

Subsequently, Nazary was appointed Head of Foreign Relations for the NRF.[12][13][14] His tenure has been characterised by legislative advocacy for international recognition of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan and a push for a democratic and decentralized form of governance in Afghanistan that would guarantee equal rights for all citizens regardless of race, religion, or gender.[15] He has been described as Ahmad Massoud's "point man".[16]

Publications

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Articles

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  • Nazary, Ali Maisam (12 February 2017). "نظام پارلمانی، تضمینی برای حکمرانی خوب در افغانستان". BBC Persian (in Persian).

Scholarly chapters

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Megan McCallister (11 October 2021). "Alumnus Ali Maisam Nazary educates about Taliban takeover, crisis from new role". The Daily Bruin.
  2. ^ a b "Massoud Foundation Board of Directors". Massoud Foundation USA. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  3. ^ Thomas Harding (3 December 2022). "Afghan resistance sees Taliban weakness as it seeks to exhaust the enemy". The National.
  4. ^ "Herat Security Dialogue-XI" (PDF). Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies. 28 November 2023.
  5. ^ "Bellwether Team". Bellwether Partners. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  6. ^ Gall, Sandy (2021). Afghan Napoleon: The Life of Ahmad Shah Massoud. Haus Publishing. p. 316. ISBN 1913368238.
  7. ^ Massoud, Ahmad (2024). In the Name of My Father: Struggling for Freedom in Afghanistan. Republic Book Publishers. p. 147. ISBN 9781645720966.
  8. ^ "Peace in Afghanistan is impossible without an inclusive approach". TRT World. 12 September 2020.
  9. ^ Massoud, Ahmad (2024). In the Name of My Father: Struggling for Freedom in Afghanistan. Republic Book Publishers. pp. 151–152. ISBN 9781645720966.
  10. ^ Massoud, Ahmad (2024). In the Name of My Father: Struggling for Freedom in Afghanistan. Republic Book Publishers. pp. 48–49. ISBN 9781645720966.
  11. ^ "Afghan vice president says he is "caretaker" president". Reuters. 17 August 2021.
  12. ^ "Anti-Taliban resistance group says it has thousands of fighters". BBC. 23 August 2021.
  13. ^ "Resistance official: Afghans are answering the call for an uprising". CNN. 8 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  14. ^ "Afghan National Resistance Front: The battle continues". BBC Persian. 19 September 2021.
  15. ^ "What the Taliban Really Fear". Foreign Affairs. 19 August 2022.
  16. ^ Anthony Grant (11 April 2022). "In Democracy's Cradle, Free Afghanistan's Ali Nazary Talks of War and Resistance". New York Sun. Retrieved 30 June 2024.