Sharif Ghalib

Sharif Ghalib is the former Charge d'affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) of the Embassy of Afghanistan in Ottawa. Prior to the posting, he served as Deputy Permanent Representative (DPR) of Afghanistan to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Charge d'affaires at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Bern, Switzerland.

Ghalib is the first Afghan diplomat to have represented Afghanistan in Canada.

Sharif Ghalib received his B.A. in Law and Political Science from Kabul University. He earned a Master's degree in International Relations from Virginia Theological University (VTU) in 1997. Ghalib came to the United States under USIA Internship and Exchange Program in 1990, where he completed an International Intensive Career Development Program in Broadcast Journalism conducted by the Center for Foreign Journalists in Reston, Virginia.

Sharif Ghalib was a select participant in the Senior Afghan Leadership Workshop organized by the Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP) in November 2011. He was also awarded a certificate for completion of a Special Workshop on Charisma and Leadership conducted by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) in Switzerland in February 2012.

In the 1990s Ghalib established and hosted Free Afghanistan Broadcasting, a multi-featured community TV show in New York, and served as the Executive Producer for the subsequent three years, during which he earned a certificate in Production and Editing from the Queens Public Television QPTV. He also was formerly broadcaster and anchor on national radio and television network prior to leaving Afghanistan.

Sharif Ghalib joined the Afghan Foreign Service in 1994 and his diplomatic career started at the United Nations. He served for three consecutive office terms at the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations as Second Secretary, First Secretary and Counsellor from 1994 to 2002. Ghalib had been a member of UNGA Drafting Committee of the annual resolutions on Afghanistan until 2001.

During his tenures, Ghalib has represented Afghanistan in numerous bilateral, regional and international meetings, conferences, and fora as a member and head of delegation, including the 50th UN Commemorative Meeting, the UN Millennium Summit, NAM Summit (Durban-South Africa), NAM Ministerial Conference (Cartagena-Colombia), FAO Summit (Rome-Italy), OIC Summit (Tehran-Iran), OIC Ministerial Conference (New York), ECO Ministerial Conference (Baku-Azerbaijan), G-77 Conference (Havana-Cuba), World Economic Forum Special Session (New York), and ICAO Ministerial Conference (Montreal-Canada), as well as seven UNGA regular sessions in New York. He was also a participant in the Human Rights Council (OHCHR) considerations at its Regular and Special sessions, and a member of Afghanistan's delegation on the country's bid for accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) during service in Geneva.

A member of the intra-Afghan London Conference, Sharif Ghalib attended, in his capacity, its successive deliberations on accentuating popular national endeavors through greater participation of Afghanistan's intelligentsia worldwide, convened in the United Kingdom, and was a participant in the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Afghanistan in Washington, D.C. held in 1996.

He was also part of the UN-sponsored arrangements for transition to the post-Bonn Interim Authority in Afghanistan in 2001.

In April 2002, Sharif Ghalib was appointed by the Interim Administration headed by Hamid Karzai as Afghanistan's only representative and chief negotiator on the establishment of full bilateral Diplomatic and Consular relations between Afghanistan and Canada at Resident-embassy level.

The Embassy of Afghanistan was officially inaugurated on 29 October 2002 in Ottawa, where Ghalib served as Chargé d'affaires ad interim and later Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) and Minister-Counsellor until 2005.

In June 2003, Sharif Ghalib addressed the first Canadian military contingent at Petawawa Headquarters, to be deployed to Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Drawing upon a successful initiative, the first of its kind, in late 2004 Sharif Ghalib oversaw the shipment to Afghanistan of more than $2.1 million worth of medicine and medical supplies donated by 14 Canadian drug makers and medical supply manufacturers, which was later signed into a multi-year program.

Sharif Ghalib is a guest writer for the Asia Times Online and has written extensively on Afghanistan, the region and world affairs with particular reference to the situation in Afghanistan and its implications for global peace and security. Co-founded and served as the Honorary President of the Toronto-based Canadian Afghan Council (CAC), Ghalib is an Honored member of Strathmore's Who's Who 2009 - 2010. He and his wife have a daughter and a son.