Alumni interview

Gharanai Khwakhuzhi

Full Name: Gharanai Khwakhuzhi

Nationality: Afghan

Country of Work: Afghanistan

Institution: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Position: Acting Deputy Director General of Media Relations

Course: The 13th Executive Seminar for Diplomats from Afghanistan

Can you tell us a bit about your career path and your motivation to follow this profession?

I always wanted to follow the footsteps of my father (army officer) and grandfather (civil services officer) who both served the government of Afghanistan to the best of their abilities and be part of and play my role in the government.
Yet unlike my ancestor, being part of Foreign Service was a lifelong dream of mine which I worked hard for to achieve. As a child I had this craze of developing relations with new people, trying to influence my ideas and talking my way around so that they would agree with my ideas. And being part of Foreign Services now is nothing but “Negotiations”, “Communication”, “Relations” and “Interests”.

How much did you plan your current tasks to be as they are today and how much did you leave to chance?

It’s not that I do not believe in chance, but I think it’s more to do with hard-work and planning, in order to achieve what you want and how you want it.

When it comes to influencing the international agenda or shaping public policies in your country, what main challenges do you face in your daily life as a professional?

I think the level of illiteracy in any society or a country is one of the major factors that could give or take a person the chance to influence and shape an idea, agenda or a policy; something that we – Afghans – have managed well to fight against in the past 12 years by escalating the literacy around the country and giving the new generation the chance to be well prepared for the future when it comes to shaping policies.

Tell us about a pleasant work memory you have.

If you have a job of your liking and what you always wanted to do, then it is not work but love that you perform every day and in that scenario every moment and memory is nothing but pleasant.

 

If you hadn’t followed this career, what other profession could you see yourself in and why?

I always have been a tech-freak, so probably I would have opted for a techjob, computer programming to be more specific.

 

How do you think our alumni network could serve your purposes better?

Being interested in expanding the circle of my interactions with different people from different parts of the world, I think the idea of “Diplomacy through Networking” is the best way of doing so and alumni network is the way to go.

 

 

These interviews are the opinion of the interviewed Alumni and do not represent the views of Training for International Diplomats or the Federal Foreign Office. Training for International Diplomats and the Federal Foreign Office are not responsible for the content of these interviews.