Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that answer the question.
Query: Who is the president of Afghanistan?
The President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the head of state and head of government of Afghanistan. The incumbent office holder is Ashraf Ghani.
Burhānuddīn Rabbānī (Persian/Pashto: ; b. 20 September 1940, d. 20 September 2011) was an Afghan politician who served as President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996 ("de jure" until 2001). After the Taliban government was toppled during Operation Enduring Freedom, Rabbani returned to Kabul and served as President from November to December 20, 2001, when Hamid Karzai was chosen at the Bonn International Conference on Afghanistan. Rabbani was also the leader of Jamiat-e Islami Afghanistan (Islamic Society of Afghanistan).
The Vice President of Afghanistan is the second highest political position obtainable in Afghanistan. Vice Presidents are currently elected on the same ticket as the President. A Presidential candidate nominates two candidates for Vice President before the election. The current Vice Presidents are Abdul Rashid Dostum (First Vice President) and Sarwar Danish (Second Vice President).
The Karzai administration was the government of Afghanistan under President Hamid Karzai, who became the head of state of Afghanistan in December 2001 after the Taliban government was overthrown. Karzai was appointed at the 2002 Loya Jirga as the Interim President of the Afghan Transitional Administration. After the 2004 Afghan presidential election, he became the President of Afghanistan.
Dr. Miller served as Director for Afghanistan on the National Security Council staff from September 2007 to September 2009 under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Miller served on the staff of Douglas Lute, who served as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan for President Bush and, subsequently, as Special Coordinator for Afghanistan and Pakistan for President Obama. Miller supported the presidential transition and continued in his position during the Obama Administration before accepting a position as Assistant Professor of International Security Affairs at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.
Waheed Omar (Dari:وحید عمر) (born March 1978) is a politician in Afghanistan who is serving as the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Italy since July, 2016. He is also Afghanistan's Permanent Representative to WFP, IFAD, FAO and IDLO. He earlier served as the spokesperson of President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai. 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.
The most important thing the Loya Jirga had to do was to choose a president for the Transitional Administration who would lead the country until the official presidential elections in 2004. Initially there were two candidates who had declared to run: former president of Afghanistan and Northern Alliance leader Burhanuddin Rabbani and the American-backed chairman of the Afghan Interim Administration Hamid Karzai. Karzai was also supported by Abdullah Abdullah and Mohammad Fahim, two important leaders of the Northern Alliance. 
A third possible candidate was Zahir Shah, former king of Afghanistan until 1973. He had spent years living in Rome but had returned to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime. Already at the Bonn Conference which installed the interim administration there was a group of supporters of Zahir Shah, called the Rome-group, who wanted to take the former king to take up the position of head of state.
The Constitution of Afghanistan, ratified in January 2004, makes Islam the state religion. The President and the Vice-Presidents must be Muslim. The great majority of Afghanistan's citizens are Sunni who follow the Hanafi school of jurisprudence.
On 2 May 2012, Afghan president Hamid Karzai and U.S. president Barack Obama signed a strategic partnership agreement between the two countries, after the U.S. president had arrived in Kabul as part of unannounced trip to Afghanistan on the first anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death. The U.S.-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement, officially titled the "Enduring Strategic Partnership Agreement between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the United States of America", provides the long-term framework for the relationship between Afghanistan and the United States of America after the drawdown of U.S. forces in the Afghanistan war. The agreement went into effect on 4 July 2012.
Hamdam works as an Advisor to The President of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in international affairs. As a Deputy Senior Advisor to The President, he is working on UN affairs in Afghanistan. The Senior Advisory Office of The President on UN Affairs (SAOP UN-Affairs) has established in early 2017 at the office of The President as policy and advisory body. The SAOP UN-Affairs worked on One UN for Afghanistan, a strategic framework that has replaced The United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for Afghanistan. The advisory also successfully drafted a mutual accountability framework between the government of Afghanistan and the United Nations. The One UN or Delivering As One (DAO) was one of the most challenging task for the UN family and the Afghan government, but the SAOP was able to do it successfully. Under the new framework the UN has to align its programs and projects based on the national strategies and priorities of Afghanistan.
Provincial governments are led by a governor who is appointed by the President of Afghanistan. Each province is represented in the government of Afghanistan by two members in the House of Elders. One is elected by the provincial council to a four-year term while the second is elected by the district councils to a three-year term. Representation in the House of the People is directly from the districts, although in each province, two or more of the representatives must be women. They are appointed by the President of Afghanistan. 
The Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States, officially the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the United States of America, is the official representative of the President of Afghanistan to the President of the United States. The ambassador and the embassy staff at large work at the Afghan Embassy in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The current ambassador is Dr. Hamdullah Mohib, who succeeded Eklil Ahmad Hakimi in September 2015.
Also among the Pashtuns in India are students from Afghanistan who are in India to obtain a quality education, including President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai and Kabuliwallah Pashtuns who are doing business in India. 
The National Coalition of Afghanistan (, Etelaf-e Milli; previously known as the Coalition for Change and Hope), is a political coalition in Afghanistan led by Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan's former foreign minister (2001-2005) and main challenger of President Hamid Karzai in the 2009 Afghan presidential elections. Abdullah Abdullah was a close friend of the Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud who was assassinated two days before the September 11 attacks.
Zahir Shah, who would become the last King of Afghanistan, was overthrown by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan in July 1973, after discontent with the monarchy grew in the urban areas of Afghanistan. The country had gone through several droughts, and charges of corruption and poor economic policies were leveled against the ruling dynasty. Khan transformed the monarchy into a republic, and he became the first President of Afghanistan. He was supported by a faction of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), Afghanistan's communist party, which had been founded in 1965 and enjoyed strong relations with the Soviet Union. Neamatollah Nojumi writes in "The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region":
On 2 May 2012, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and The United States President Barack Obama signed a strategic partnership agreement between the two countries, after the US president had arrived in Kabul as part of unannounced trip to Afghanistan on the first anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death. The U.S.-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement, officially entitled the "Enduring Strategic Partnership Agreement between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the United States of America", provides the long-term framework for the relationship between Afghanistan and the United States of America after the drawdown of U.S. forces in the Afghanistan war. The Strategic Partnership Agreement went into effect on July 4, 2012 as stated by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who said on July 8, 2012 at the Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan: "Like a number of countries represented here, the United States and Afghanistan signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement that went into effect four days ago."
Jahani was supported by a large number of Afghans, particularly youths to run for president himself in the 2014 elections, but he chose not to and his favorite candidate for the presidency is yet to be determined. Whomever Jahani sides with will have a better chance of victory in the southern region of Afghanistan. If one person could unite Pashtuns of the south in the contemporary era, it will be Jahani because there is a lot respect in Afghanistan particularly in the south for his sense of patriotism, his pride in Afghan history and his intellectual abilities. Jahani is a strong critic and opponent of corruption in Afghanistan and his intellectual crusade against the rampant corruption of the Afghan government has impacted his relationships with President Karzai who has a long-standing friendship with Jahani. Their friendship witnessed further rift when Jahani backed the bid of Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai for president in the 2009 elections of Afghanistan in which Hamid Karzai won a second term in office.
Yunus Qanuni (, born 1957) is an Afghan politician who was Vice President of Afghanistan. An ethnic Tajik from the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan, Qanuni is the leader of the "Afghanistan e Naween" (New Afghanistan) political party and former Speaker of the House of the People (the lower house of parliament or Wolesi Jirga).
This episode Stewart tells the story of Soviet and United States involvement in Afghanistan. From 1928 until 1978 there had been relative peace and in the 1960s and '70s was on the hippie trail but the cold war was at its height with Afghanistan surrounded by American allies Iran and Pakistan. In northern Afghanistan soviet aid was provided and in southern Afghanistan American aid. In Kabul Islamists and communists vied for supremecy and when the communists took control in 1978 they asked the Soviet Union for military assistance. Reluctantly they agreed after the Afghan president went to Moscow in 1979. 80,000 troops entered Afghanistan and the United States saw a chance for revenge against the Soviets who aided the communists in Vietnam. The CIA covertly through General Zia, President of Pakistan, provided modern weaponry. Charlie Wilson and socialite Joanne Herring were prominent in the raising of 9 billion dollars covertly passed to Afghanistan. In 1988 the Soviets pulled out and the country descended into a vicious five-year civil war that the Taliban emerged victorious imposing strict Islamic law. Afghanistan became a safe haven for many terrorist groups and when the twin towers were attacked in New York the United States and its coalition allies entered Afghanistan in large numbers and as Rory Stewart points to the history of Afghanistan, it is an easy country to enter but a difficult one to leave.
Indonesia's first president Sukarno visited Afghanistan in 1961. On November 2012, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai visited Indonesia to attend the fifth Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) in Nusa Dua, Bali. In January 2018, Indonesian president Joko Widodo visited Afghanistan.
The First Lady of Afghanistan is the title attributed to the wife of the President of Afghanistan. Rula Ghani, wife of President Ashraf Ghani, is the current First Lady of Afghanistan since 2014.
Jan Alam Hssani (born 8 August 1956) is a former Afghan volleyball Player who played for Afghanistan for over 10 Years. Currently he is the Secretary General of Afghanistan National Olympic Committee and the President of Afghanistan Athletic Federation for over 25 Years. He is a former President of Afghanistan sports Federation during 2007 and 2008 seasons.
On December 1, 2014, Ilham Aliyev met with the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, who was in Baku on a working visit. Afghanistan's executive head Abdullah Abdullah was also attended the meeting.
The politics of Afghanistan consists of the council of ministers, provincial governors and the national assembly, with a president serving as the head of state and commander-in-chief of the Afghan Armed Forces. The nation is currently led by President Ashraf Ghani who is backed by two vice presidents, Abdul Rashid Dostum and Sarwar Danish. In the last decade the politics of Afghanistan have been influenced by NATO countries, particularly the United States, in an effort to stabilise and democratise the country. In 2004, the nation's new constitution was adopted and an executive president was elected. The following year a general election to choose parliamentarians took place.
Jahani is considered a very influential person in Afghanistan and politicians often rely on his influence over all Afghans particularly Pashtuns in the South and East of the country. Presidential hopefuls during both 2005 and 2009 elections have tried to get Jahani to back their bids for presidency to attract more voters from the south and the east of Afghanistan. Jahani is believed to be in favor of politicians who work for all Afghans regardless of their ethnicity and political affiliations. Jahani believes in a united Afghanistan and often backed leaders who represent all Afghans from all ethnic groups. Jahani backed Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai in the 2009 Afghan presidential elections; Ashraf Ghani became the president of Afghanistan in the April 2014 presidential elections.