The Minister of Foreign Affairs, H. E. Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta


H. E. Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta was born on 15th of December 1953 in the province of Herat where he completed his primary and secondary education. He was enrolled at the Kabul University. In the mid-1970s, Dr. Spanta studied Bachelor of Science in International Relations in Turkey, and settled in Germany in 1982 following the Soviet invasion. Foreign Minister Spanta earned a Master degree in Political Sciences, Sociology and International Relations and a PhD degree from Aachen University in Political Sciences where he also taught as a professor from 1992 to 2005. He was also in charge of the University's Third World Studies Institute.

In January 2005, Dr. Spanta returned to teach at Kabul University, and later became the advisor on foreign affairs to President Hamed Karzai. His nomination as Foreign Minister was approved by the Parliament on April 20, and he was sworn in on May 2, 2006. He is married and has a son and a daughter. He is fluent in Dari, Pashto, Turkish, German and English (with a bit of German accent!)