Ravan A. G. Farhâdi facts for kids

Professor Abdul Ghafoor Ravan Farhâdi was born on August 23, 1929, in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is an Afghan scholar and a diplomat. He worked as Afghanistan's Ambassador to the United Nations from 1993 to 2006.

Early Life and Learning

Farhâdi is from the Tajik ethnic group in Kabul. He finished high school at Lycée Esteqlal in Kabul in 1948. He then went to the Institut d'études politiques in Paris, France, where he earned a master's degree in 1952.

Later, he got his Ph.D. (a very high university degree) from the Sorbonne university in 1955. His studies focused on Indo-Iranian languages. His special paper was about the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. This paper was later translated into English and Russian. Professor Farhâdi speaks French, English, and Persian very well.

Working as a Diplomat

In 1955, Farhâdi started teaching about the History of political thought at Kabul University. In 1958, he began his career as a diplomat. A diplomat is someone who represents their country in other nations. He worked as a First Secretary at the Afghan Embassy in Karachi, Pakistan.

From 1961 to 1962, he was in charge of United Nations matters at the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After that, he became a Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Afghan Embassy in Washington, D.C., in the United States.

In 1964, he returned to Kabul to work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1964 to 1968, he was the Director-General for Political Affairs. Then, he became the Deputy Foreign Minister for five years. Between 1965 and 1971, he also served as the Secretary of the Council of Ministers for the Afghan Government.

In 1973, he was made Ambassador in Paris. After a change in government led by Sardar Mohammed Daoud Khan, Farhâdi was called back to Kabul. He worked as a member of the Advisory Commission of the Ministry of Culture from 1975 to 1978. In this role, he helped organize international meetings about culture.

Working as a Professor

After the Soviet invasion in 1979, Farhâdi was held in Pol-e Charkhi jail for two years as a political prisoner. This means he was jailed because of his political beliefs. After his release, he moved back to France. There, he became an associate professor teaching the History of Persian Literature at the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne and University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle.

In the summer of 1985, he was a visiting scholar at the Australian National University in Canberra. Later, he became an associate professor at the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, he taught many subjects, from Persian Literature to medieval Islamic mysticism.

Professor Farhâdi has written several history books. These include The Quatrains of Rumi, which is a translation of over 1,600 short poems (quatrains) by the famous poet Rumi. He also wrote about Abdullah Ansari of Herat (Khajeh Abdollah Ansari), who was a Sufi master (a spiritual teacher).

Afghanistan's UN Ambassador

After the communist government in Afghanistan fell and the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani began, Farhâdi became Afghanistan's ambassador to the United Nations. The United Nations (UN) is an organization where countries work together for peace and cooperation.

Farhâdi officially started his role as Afghanistan's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN on April 30, 1993. He presented his official papers to the United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali. Even when the Taliban took control of most of Afghanistan, the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani continued to represent Afghanistan at the United Nations. Farhâdi remained the UN Ambassador for Afghanistan until the end of 2006. The Taliban never represented Afghanistan in the United Nations.

Since 1993, Farhâdi has also been the Vice Chairman of a committee at the UN Headquarters in New York. This committee works on the rights of the Palestinian people. Farhâdi is known for strongly supporting Palestinian rights. However, he also believes that Israel has a right to exist.

After his time as a diplomat, he worked with an American scholar named Ibrahim Gamard. Together, they translated all the quatrains of the Sufi Tajik poet Maulana Jalal ad-Din Rumi into English.

Political Ideas

Farhâdi has often criticized Pakistan, saying it supports the Taliban. He believed that Afghanistan should have a government made up of all its different ethnic groups. These include Uzbeks, Tajiks, Hazaras, Baluchs, and Pashtuns. However, he did not agree with the idea of US Secretary of State Colin Powell to include moderate Taliban members in the next government.

During the presidential elections in 2009, when Abdullah Abdullah was the main challenger to Karzai, Farhâdi supported Abdullah. Abdullah was the former Minister of Foreign Affairs.

After the Taliban fell, Farhâdi tried to convince the US government to give more help to Afghanistan. He especially wanted aid to help families who lost loved ones in US bombings.