Afghanistan: Who is Ashraf Ghani, Departing Afghan President who Failed to Make Peace with Taliban

Ashraf Ghani, who left Afghanistan on Sunday following the Taliban’s rapid advance through the country and into Kabul, was twice elected Afghan president, as well as being one of the country’s best-known academics. President Ghani left the country hours after the Taliban entered the capital, government officials said. It was not yet clear where he was headed, or how power would be transferred. First elected president in 2014, Ghani took over from Hamid Karzai, who led Afghanistan after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, and oversaw the conclusion of the U.S. combat mission, the near-complete withdrawal of foreign forces from the…