Talks at Copenhagen Democracy Summit 2023
Is currently the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan’s Foreign Relations Head and senior advisor to Ahmad Massoud. He is also a historian and researcher. His main areas of focus is the history of Islam, history of Central Asia and South Asia. Nationalism, nation-building and ethnic conflict are other research interests that he has. Ali double majored in Political Science and Iranian Studies at UCLA and graduated with Cum Laude in 2012. He was also a research assistant at UCLA’s Political Science Department during his last year there. Afterwards, he attended the London School of Economics for his Master’s degree and was awarded a Master’s degree in Comparative Politics (Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict) in 2013. The dissertation topic for Ali’s graduate degree was The Role of Ethnic Politics in Afghanistan, from 1978-2001. In late 2013 he joined Dr. Abdullah Abdullah’s presidential campaign as Deputy Director of Media Affairs and confidential advisor.
Since 2014, he has actively been involved in Afghanistan’s politics and simultaneously was a board member and a director at the Massoud Foundation, a charitable organization. He did extensive lobbying in the United States and Europe for many from Afghanistan. In 2018, Ali joined Ahmad Massoud’s political efforts to start a grassroots movement to prevent the collapse of the Republic in Afghanistan and in August 2021 with Mr. Massoud, founded the National Resistance Front and was appointed as its head of foreign relations.