Wahid Omar

For the academic, see Wahid Omar (academic).
Waheed Omar
Spokesperson of the Government of Afghanistan
In office
2010 – 9 October 2011
President Hamid Karzai
Succeeded by Aimal Faizi
Personal details
Born March 1978
Kabul, Afghanistan
Nationality  Afghanistan
Political party Independent
Alma mater University of York

Waheed Omar, also spelled as Wahid Omar, (وحید عمر) (born March 1978) is a politician in Afghanistan who served as the spokesperson of President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai.[1] He was previously the communications director for Karzai's reelection campaign in 2009. During the electoral campaign and the aftermath of the election he was often seen as Karzai's one-man frontline. Both President Karzai's supporters as well as his opponents recognized Waheed Omer's eloquence, civil debate skills, his equal fluency in Pashto and Persian, and his media-management skills as one of President Karzai's strongest weapons.

Since June 2016 he has been Afghanistan's ambassador to Italy.[2]

Prior to his stint as campaign spokesperson, Omar was the founding director of the Government Media and Information Center, formed in 2009 to oversee communications between the government, Afghan citizens, and the international community.[3]

Biography

Waheed Omar was born and raised in Kabul as an ethnic Pashtun. His early schooling took place in Kabul and Peshawar, Pakistan. He later attended the University of York in the United Kingdom where he received a Master of Arts degree in Political Science. At York, Omar focused on Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development. His MA thesis was on South Africa's post-apartheid transitional justice mechanisms and how some of those lessons could be applied to post-war Afghanistan.[4]

Prior to his appointment as Karzai's chief spokesperson, Omar served the Government of Afghanistan in several high-level positions, including as the Deputy Director of the Office of Administrative Affairs (2007–2008), and the Chief Organizing Officer of the Af-Pak Peace Jirga. He also has a history of work with international and domestic non-government institutions such as the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), Sanayee Development Foundation. Omar has been an activist and writer from a young age, establishing Afghan Youth Foundation for Unity in Peshawer when he was only in his early 20s. He led the establishment of FES, Afghanistan Young Leaders Forum in 2003. He has published a children's book and several articles and poems in Dari, Pashto and English.[4]

Omar speaks both the official languages of Afghanistan, Persian and Pashto as well as English, and is proficient in Urdu/Hindi and German.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Office of the President – Spokesperson's Office". Office of the President of Afghanistan. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
  2. ↑ http://www.easydiplomacy.com/en/president-mattarella-receives-new-four-ambassadors/
  3. ↑ "Bi-weekly Highlights". U.S. Agency for International Development. October 15, 2009. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  4. 1 2 "Biography" (in Dari). Office of the President of Afghanistan. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
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