About Ramazan Bashardost Dr. Ramazan Bashardost (Dari: داکتر رمضان بشردوست) (born 1965) is Afghanistan's former Planning Minister, a current member of the National Assembly of Afghanistan and was an independent candidate in the Afghan presidential election, 2009.Early years Ramzan Bashardost, an ethnic Hazara, was born in Qarabagh District, Ghazni Province of Afghanistan in a family of a respected government employees. He completed his primary and intermediate education in Qarabagh and later in Maimana, capital of Fariyab in northern Afghanistan. Months after the 1978 coup d'état, Bashardost left Afghanistan for Iran. He finished high school in Iran and then immigrated into Pakistan. In 1983, he left Pakistan for France where he spent more than 20 years, earning degrees in law and political science. In 1989 he enrolled at Grenoble University where he did his Masters in Law. In 1990, he did his Masters in Diplomacy from Paris University. In 1992, he did his Masters in Political Science. In 1995, Bashardost received his Ph.D in Law from France's Toulouse University. He wrote his thesis on the UN's role against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Recent years After years in exile, Bashardost returned to Afghanistan in 2002 to work in the UN Department of Afghanistan's Foreign Affairs Ministry. In 2003, he was appointed as Director of European and Western Political Affairs Department in the ministry. In March 2004, he was appointed minister of planning but resigned that December in protest at the government's alleged inability to take action over 2,000 Afghan and international non governmental organisations (NGOs) outlawed by his ministry in Afghanistan. In 2004 Bashardost published his book, Basic Political, Military and Diplomatic Laws of Afghanistan - From the era of Ahmad Shah Baba (1225 Hejri) to current years, in which he presented his analysis of the history of laws in Afghanistan. The book won an award at the Academy of Political Sciences of France, the first award won by an independent Afghan scientist and scholar. Dr. Bashardost has no affiliations with any tribal, military or political party. He is in an independent scholar and political activist, well known for his support and defense of human rights. He is well known as a prominent voice against the corrupt Afghan authorities of the past three decades, and a bold reformer and critic of the government. In 2004/05 he briefly served as Afghanistan's Planning Minister. He was critical of the role played by NGOs and claimed that majority of them were a source of Afghanistan money drain. He particularly highlighted the hefty amounts paid to the NGO employees and ministers as compared to the average income of less than a dollar average national income. Controversy surrounded his stance, and he had to resign under government and foreign pressure. However, his outspoken criticism of the government and his firm stances against corruption and for public welfare won him widespread support. In 2006 he was elected as Kabul's representative in the parliamentary elections. He won the third highest number of votes, which spanned across ethnic and linguistic groups.