 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(July 2022) |
Zachary Bookman (born 1980) is an American government technology entrepreneur. He is co-founder and CEO of OpenGov, a company that sells cloud software to local governments and state agencies. Prior to founding OpenGov, Bookman served as Advisor to the Anti‑Corruption Task Force in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Bookman holds a JD from the Yale Law School and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School. [1] He graduated as valedictorian of his class from the University of Maryland [1] and is an alumnus of the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. In 2007-2008, Bookman received a Fulbright Fellowship to study transparency and corruption in Mexico. [2]
Bookman served as a law clerk to the Honorable Sandra S. Ikuta on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, later working as a trial litigator at Keker, Van Nest & Peters in San Francisco. [1]
Bookman served as Advisor to U.S. Army General H.R. McMaster (2011-2012), on the Combined Joint Interagency Task Force (Shafafiyat) at the International Security Assistance Force headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan. Bookman helped lead a Rule of Law team on the task force that worked with the Afghan Department of Justice on corruption cases, such as the bribery scandal at the Dawood National Military Hospital. [3]
Bookman co-founded OpenGov in 2012 with Joe Lonsdale and Stanford University technologists. [4] OpenGov received investments from Thrive Capital starting in 2013, and in 2017 Bookman participated in a White House summit organized by Jared Kushner, the brother of Thrive Capital's founder. [5]
Bookman grew up in Cabin John, Maryland outside of Washington, D.C. [6]
In 2021 Bookman took a cross-country bike ride from the San Francisco Bay to the Chesapeake Bay to visit with local government leaders. [7]
In September 2019, Bookman joined an expedition with mountain guide Garrett Madison to attempt a late season ascent of Mount Everest. [8] The guide called off the attempt while the group was in base camp, which Madison described as a decision based on dangerous conditions. [9] In March 2020, Bookman filed a lawsuit seeking damages over the non-refundable expedition fee, [8] alleging the guide had canceled the trip for reasons unrelated to safety. [10] In December 2021, the case was settled with Bookman agreeing through a stipulated judgement that he is not entitled to a refund for the trip. [9]
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south, Iran to the west, Turkmenistan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, Tajikistan to the northeast, and China to the northeast and east. Occupying 652,864 square kilometers (252,072 sq mi) of land, the country is predominantly mountainous with plains in the north and the southwest, which are separated by the Hindu Kush mountain range. Kabul is the country's largest city and serves as its capital. According to the World Population review, as of 2023, Afghanistan's population is 43 million. The National Statistics Information Authority of Afghanistan estimated the population to be 32.9 million as of 2020.
Kabul is the capital city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into 22 municipal districts. In 2023 its population was estimated to be 4.95 million people. In contemporary times, Kabul has served as Afghanistan's political, cultural and economical center. Rapid urbanisation has made it the country's primate city and the 75th-largest city in the world.
Hamid Karzai is an Afghan politician who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from December 2004 to September 2014. He previously served as Chairman of the Afghan Interim Administration from December 2001 to July 2002. He is the chief (khān) of the Popalzai Durrani tribe of Pashtuns in Kandahar Province.
The Islamic National Army, also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Army and the Afghan Army, is the land force branch of the Afghan Armed Forces. The roots of an army in Afghanistan can be traced back to the early 18th century when the Hotak dynasty was established in Kandahar followed by Ahmad Shah Durrani's rise to power. It was reorganized in 1880 during Emir Abdur Rahman Khan's reign. Afghanistan remained neutral during the First and Second World Wars. From the 1960s to the early 1990s, the Afghan Army was equipped by the Soviet Union.
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai is an Afghan former politician, academic, and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was overthrown by the Taliban.
Kabul, situated in the east of the country, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. The capital of the province is Kabul city, which is Afghanistan's capital and largest city. The population of the Kabul Province is over 5.5 million people as of 2022, of which over 85 percent live in urban areas. The current governor of the province is Qari Baryal.
Kapisa is the smallest of Afghanistan's thirty-four provinces and is located in the north-east of the country. It has an estimated population of 496,840 people and an area of 1,842 km2 (711 sq mi), making it the most densely populated province apart from Kabul Province. It borders Panjshir Province to the north, Laghman Province to the east, Kabul Province to the south and Parwan Province to the west. Mahmud-i-Raqi is the provincial capital, while the most populous city and district of Kapisa is Nijrab.
Education in Afghanistan includes K–12 and higher education, which is under the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education. In 2021, there were nearly 10 million students and 220,000 teachers in Afghanistan. The nation still requires more schools and teachers. Soon after the Taliban take took the country in August 2021, they banned girls from secondary education. Some provinces still allow secondary education for girls despite the ban. In December 2022, the Taliban government also prohibited university education for females in Afghanistan, sparking protests and international condemnation. In December 2023, investigations were being held by the United Nations into the claim that Afghan girls of all ages were allowed to study at religious schools.
The American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) was a private university located in the Darulaman section of Kabul. Former students of AUAF live abroad and, as of 2022, there were plans to create a new AUAF campus in Qatar. AUAF was the country's first private, not-for-profit institution of higher education and was located in Kabul near the Darul Aman Palace and the Afghan Parliament.
New Kabul Bank is a bank in Afghanistan that has its main branch in the capital city of Kabul. It was established in 2004 as the Kabul Bank, the first private bank in Afghanistan. After corruption and scandals it was re-established in 2011 as the New Kabul Bank.
The Afghan National Police, also known as the Afghan Police, is the national police force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, serving as a single law enforcement agency all across the country. The Afghan Border Police, which has stations along the nation's border and at major airports, is a separate component of the force. The ANP is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior Affairs in Kabul, Afghanistan, and is headed by Sirajuddin Haqqani. It has nearly 200,000 members as of April 2023. Although the GDI are also a part of the secret police agency of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan after the Fall of Kabul in August 2021, and the GCPSU are the special police forces.
Mahmood Karzai, also spelled Mahmud Karzai, or Mahmoud Karzai is an Afghan businessman. He was the third of the six children and son of a prominent political figure, Abdul Ahad Karzai who was a member of the Afghan National Assembly during King Zahir Shah's time. Mahmood Karzai is currently the Chairman and President of the AFCO International LLC. He is the elder brother of the former president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai and he is also the brother of Ahmed Wali Karzai, a politician in Afghanistan who served as Chairman of the Kandahar Provincial Council and was killed by his bodyguard in Afghanistan.
Corruption in Afghanistan is a widespread and growing problem in Afghan society. Transparency International's 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks the country in 162nd place out of 180 countries. The 180 countries of the Index are scored on a scale from 0 to 100 according to the perceived corruption in the public sector, and then ranked by their score. Afghanistan's 2023 ranking is based on a score of 20. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90, the average score was 43, and the worst score was 11. For comparison with regional scores, the highest score among the countries of the Asia Pacific region was 85, the average score was 45 and the lowest score was 17. In this region, only North Korea had a lower score than Afghanistan. The Taliban significantly tackled corruption upon taking power in 2021; Afghanistan was ranked in 150th place in the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index, following a ranking of 174th in 2021.
Mohammad Shafiq Hamdam is an Afghan writer, leader in information technology and cybersecurity, and a political analyst. He has held roles such as Deputy Senior Advisor to the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Senior Analyst/Advisor to NATO and the Chairman of the Afghan Anti-Corruption Network (AACN).
OpenGov Inc. is a government technology company that offers cloud software for public sector accounting, planning, budgeting, citizen services, and procurement. OpenGov serves over 1,000 cities, counties, and state agencies across 49 states. In February 2024, minority owner Cox Enterprises agreed to acquire the company.
Corruption in Azerbaijan is considered high and occurs at all levels of government. Corruption during the Soviet era was rife and persists into the present. As of 2024, Azerbaijan has regularly ranked near the bottom of Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.
The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was a presidential republic in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2021. The state was established to replace the Afghan interim (2001–2002) and transitional (2002–2004) administrations, which were formed after the 2001 United States invasion of Afghanistan that had toppled the partially recognized Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. However, on 15 August 2021, the country was recaptured by the Taliban, which marked the end of the 2001–2021 war, the longest war in US history. This led to the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, led by President Ashraf Ghani, and the reinstatement of the Islamic Emirate under the control of the Taliban. While the United Nations still recognizes the Islamic Republic as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, this toppled regime controls no portion of the country today, nor does it operate in exile; it effectively no longer exists. The Islamic Emirate is the de facto ruling government. The US–Taliban deal, signed on 29 February 2020 in Qatar, was one of the critical events that caused the collapse of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). Following the deal, the US dramatically reduced the number of air attacks and deprived the ANSF of a critical edge in fighting the Taliban insurgency, leading to the Taliban takeover of Kabul.
Thrive Capital is an American venture capital firm based in New York City. It focuses on software and internet investments. The firm was founded by Joshua Kushner who is also co-founder of Oscar Health and minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Zaki Daryabi is an award-winner renowned journalist from Afghanistan currently living in exile. He is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Etilaatroz and KabulNow newspapers. He has been known for his investigative journalism exposing chronic nepotism and corruption within Afghanistan's government. In 2020, he won Transparency International’s Anti-Corruption Award.
Etilaatroz is an Afghanistani newspaper. In 2021, due to the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, the outlet moved its office to a suburb of Washington D.C. Etilaatroz is known for its in-depth investigative stories exposing high-level corruption, nepotism, systematic ethnic favoritism, and discrimination against minority ethnic groups in Afghanistan's government.