Thread by @MujMash

40 years ago, they were three young Afghan scholarship students abroad.

In a twist of history, Ghani, Khalilzad, and Stanekzai now find
themselves at the center of an endgame - one represents 🇦🇫, one the 🇺🇸, and one the Taliban.

Our @nytimes story:

nytimes.com/2019/02/16/wor…

...Mr. Ghani and Mr. Khalilzad (L and R), now the Afghan president & the U.S. envoy, were completing degrees...in Beirut, a vibrant intellectual hub..during a turbulent time in the Middle East.
They enjoyed the Mediterranean beaches, went to dances & met their future wives

The third Afghan (Center in the photo), now known as Sher Mohammed Abas Stanekzai, the chief negotiator for the Taliban, spent those years in military fatigues at the foothills of the Himalayas, training at India’s most prestigious military schools - the ACC and the IMA.

On breaks from military school in India, Mr. Stanekzai's batch of young Afghans would venture to the hills of Kashmir, or on the sets of Bollywood films hoping for a photo with stars. Friends said he shied away from politics as student, but was personally conservative (veg meals)

While Mr. Stanekzai (center) is now the most transformed of the 1970s scholarship students, friends who knew him even during his Mujahideen days say he was socially (relatively) liberal - struggled to fit with other Mujahiddeen (in Sayaf's camp) in the 80s. Our story has details.

It has perhaps also been a bitter pill for India to see Sher Mohammed Abas Stanekzai, a man who trained at elite Indian military schools, go to the opposite side - rising high among the Taliban, which is heavily influenced by Pakistan. Essentially an asset of the arch-enemy.

Afghan President Ghani and U.S. Amb. Khalilzad have known each other for 53 years.

Even before their days at American University in Beirut they were part of same batch (1966) of exchange program to the U.S. as high school students.

(Photo: Khalilzad’s book, The Envoy)

In their new roles, President Ghani and Amb. Khalilzad got off on the wrong foot - and the relationship has been marred by mistrust from beginning, largely because of this episode we reported - where Ghani felt Khalilzad lied to him about meeting Taliban:
nytimes.com/2018/10/18/wor…

In of their 1st meetings when Mr. Khalilzad arrived in his new role as the U.S. peace envoy, Mr. Ghani made clear to him that their 53-year history had to be set aside.

“This is not about Zal and Ashraf,” Mr. Ghani told him. “This is now about the United States and Afghanistan.”

When Stanekzai joined Mujahiddeen in Quetta, socially he didnt fit, more comfortable with fellow urbanites. One friend said he'd often go out to restaurants with wife, a subject of gossip among the fighters that his circle would berate about outdated notions of keeping women home

During Taliban gov, Mr. Stanekzai became deputy foreign minister for 1st couple years - his language abilities/ease meant he was a focal point for foreigners, often a spokesman in intl. media for a gov that limited women to behind walls.
Here in NYT, 97:
nytimes.com/1997/09/24/wor…

In the first 2 years of Taliban gov, Mr. Stanekzai was often in the pages of the regime newspaper - Shariat.
Then, in Feb 1998, this little report announced his replacement. Mr. Stanekzai had ran afoul of the Taliban leadership. He disappeared from the pages for a long stretch.

(A little plug: the @ackuafghanistan has a great collection, including the Taliban regime newspaper Shariat. Where you'll find gems such as this one - an update on the Clinton scandal with headline "The U.S. President is a Big Rascal." And op-eds from characters v familiar today)

“They have two very different personalities,” Akram Fazel, their friend from Beirut. “Dr. Ghani was working more on self-reliance..very focused on his books..kept to himself. Dr. Khalilzad was more about consensus/participatory — for him life wasn’t just studies..enjoyment, too”

Mr. Ghani is firm in his own ideas, Mr. Khalilzad is more about working the room. Mr. Ghani was socialist-leaning in university, Mr. Khalilzad capitalist.
President Ghani often hails Daoud Khan. Khalilzad, in his book, recalls Daoud beating someone to pulp and biting his ear off.

ترجمه گزارش ما در روزنامه اطلاعات روز.

@Jalilpa

etilaatroz.com/72990/ghani-kh…