Mohammad Yousuf Ghazanfar, President Ashraf Ghani’s Special Representative for Economic Development and Poverty Reduction, died from the coronavirus on Friday. He was under treatment at a hospital in Turkey.
President Ghani in a statement sent his condolences over Ghazanfar’s death.
Ghazanfar had endorsed President Ghani in the 2019 election.
Ghazanfar was member of the parliament from Balkh province in 2005 and was a member of the financial and budget committee of the Wolesi Jirga, Afghanistan’s parliament. He ran for parliamentary elections in 2010.
He was a shareholder of Ghazanfar Bank, a private bank in the country.
In 2010, he survived an armed attack in which his bodyguard was killed and three others were wounded.
Ghazanfar was the most high-ranking government official to have died from the coronavirus.
President Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, called Ghazanfar a patriotic person who was for peace and unity in the country.
Ghazanfar was born in 1965 and was a well-known businessman.
Ghazanfar was laid to rest in his hometown Balkh province on Saturday.