G. Rauf Roashan

DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR AFGHAN STUDIES

Born in Kabul, Afghanistan on December 27, 1940, Dr. Roashan graduated from Habibia High School. He then enrolled in the Medical School of Kabul University from where he obtained his M.D. degree.  He also has a master's degree from Yale University's School of Medicine.  Dr. Roashan has held  government positions before the communist coup in 1978, serving as in-charge of health planning and international health departments of the Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan.  He also served as the president of the Institute of Child Health in Kabul. He has served on the World Health Organization's (WHO) Executive Board and as member of an international committee established by the world body to study the status of smallpox eradication in India, Nepal and Bhutan. The WHO awarded Dr. Roashan the Dr. A.T. Shousha Foundation's medal for outstanding service in public health in 1975. Dr. Roashan has led or been member of Afghan delegations to many international and UN system meetings and conferences including the World Health Organization's Committee Meetings for Eastern Mediterranean Region in Alexandria, Egypt; Beirut, Lebanon; Monastir,Tunisia; Kuwait; and Karachi, Pakistan and many annual World Health Assemblies in Geneva Switzerland.  Apart from the above Dr. Roashan has had a long history of working in the area of journalism at the national and international levels. He has served as news anchor on the English language program of Radio Afghanistan and also Afghanistan TV.  Here in the United States, in addition to teaching at different colleges and school systems, he has written extensively on the Afghan issues and produced TV programs for the Afghan community.  It is about three years now that he is writing weekly political commentaries under the Country Corner Column on the net.  The column is bringing to the world the reality of what goes on in Afghanistan in an unbiased, nonpartisan and factual basis. Disclaimer: External experts are not affiliated with Gateway House and have been presented here for reference only.
Expertise

Afghan Affairs, Medicine

Last modified: March 14, 2013

Recent projects

taliban q Courtesy: isafmedia/Flickr
6 January 2012 Gateway House

Taliban in Qatar: An Afghan view

With the prospect of a new Taliban office in Qatar, who would go to the negotiating table from a position of strength, the Taliban or the Afghan government? And what do Afghans think of the contentious TAPI pipeline? Dr. Roashan gives us an Afghani perspective of the geopolitics surrounding the war-torn nation.