Junaid Lughmani, an MBA student at UC-Berkeley Haas, is a veteran of the Afghanistan war. The best way forward for the the country, he says, is through emerging technologies and entrepreneurship. Photo © Tipping Point Photography
It’s been more than 100 days since the fall of Kabul.
On August 15, as the Taliban encircled Afghanistan’s capital in the pre-dawn hours, Afghan president Ashraf Ghani fled the country, allowing the militant group to seize power without resistance. Suddenly, tens of thousands were driven to the country’s borders, trying to escape the impending violence; they also swarmed the airport in Kabul, trying to get on a plane to evacuate with foreign nationals and fellow Afghans who were Western allies.
Thousands were evacuated in subsequent days. Then, on August 26, a suicide attack at the Kabul airport killed 180, including 13 American troops.
Four days later, the U.S. military departed the country for good after 20 years of occupation in Afghanistan.
Junaid Lughmani — former civilian Pashto interpreter, U.S. Army infantry officer, and veteran of the war — is among many in the U.S. distraught by the war’s unsettling end.
“We played a critical role in helping Afghanistan take a step forward,” Lughmani, now a 2023 MBA candidate at University of California-Berkeley Haas School of Business, tells Poets&Quants. “We tried, earnestly, to help break this perpetual cycle of violence that Afghanistan has been caught in since 1979. And for it to end the way that it did …” he pauses, looking down at his shaky hands. Tears well in his eyes.
“I hate war for this. Afghans deserved better. What were the last 20 years for?”
A CLEAR CONSCIENCE
“The horrifying events at the airport in Kabul in August will haunt me forever,” Lughmani continues. “I had been to that airport so many times. It’s been over 100 days since the fall of Kabul, and this nightmare won’t end. But we can’t stop, there are too many people who were left behind.”
Lughmani says that he and other veterans have not forgotten their commitment to the people of Afghanistan.
“We’re going to try to keep our promise to our Afghan allies,” he says. “If I have to sacrifice my business school experience for the mission in Afghanistan, then so be it. At least I will have a clear conscience in my later years.”
‘THIS IS NOT AMERICA’
As the U.S. withdrawal recedes into history, Afghanistan faces a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Over half of the population — nearly 23 million people — faces food scarcity, foreign aid has been halted aside from a few overburdened nonprofits, and the country is facing total economic collapse, as millions of Afghans haven’t been paid in months. More than 3 million Afghan children under the age of 5 are at greatest risk, humanitarian agencies say.
“Every day I feel angry, sad, frustrated, and hopeless,” Lughmani says. “I feel ashamed of what’s happened. This is not America. The government’s reckless withdrawal from Afghanistan does not uphold the values of our nation.”
Lughmani believes that emerging technologies and entrepreneurship may be the best way forward for Afghanistan. Drawn to UC-Berkeley because of the Haas School’s reputation for expertise in blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, he plans to help build the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Afghanistan and Pakistan by empowering entrepreneurs to leverage these emerging technologies.
It’s the best way to effect change at scale, Lughmani says.
“The only hope we have for Afghanistan is to create a self-sustaining society — one that is not dependent on foreign aid,” he says. “I believe that blockchain, cryptocurrency, and the emergence of Web3 offer the promise to eradicate corruption. These tools have the potential to transform societies like Afghanistan and many others in the developing world.”
With Afghan children. Courtesy photo
‘DO SOMETHING, DO SOMETHING’
On August 16, just one day after the Taliban reclaimed power, Lughmani started his first day of his MBA orientation. While it was supposed to be an all-day affair, he didn’t show up until the afternoon. “It had been a chaotic morning speaking with friends and old colleagues, trying to make sense of the speed of the Afghan government’s collapse,” he says. “I had friends in Afghanistan reaching out to me, pleading ‘do something, do something.’ I had no idea what to do, so I reached out to the Haas Veterans Club.”
After a desperate cry for help, Lughmani received text messages, phone calls, and voice notes from members in the Haas Veterans Club, eager to help. Together, they crafted a statement of solidarity with Afghans and got it approved by Berkeley faculty, who took a stand and posted it publicly on LinkedIn. “I couldn’t believe the overwhelming support that I got, not only from fellow veterans, but from faculty,” he says.
“A story needs to be told about this amazing community at Berkeley,” he continues. “I’m incredibly grateful that at this moment in my life — with all that’s happening in Afghanistan — I’m at Haas. They walk the walk here, truly wanting to do good in the world. It’s almost as though the community was intentionally built on the foundation of compassion; my classmates always ask me how they can help Afghanistan.”
Lughmani translating for U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham. Courtesy photo
TAKING A STAND — TOGETHER
In the following weeks, Lughmani’s classmate, Petra Nelson, approached him, eager to help Afghans. Together, the class was able to raise over $8,500, which was sent to the International Committee of the Red Cross for Afghanistan medical relief. “Our small cohort of less than 300 students is directly impacting lives through their monetary contributions,” says Lughmani. “The amount of people who are going to have access to medical care in Afghanistan because of the Haas community is inspiring.”
“Building a better society is not some idealistic fantasy at Berkeley,” he continues.“Students genuinely care about humanity and what’s happening around them. Not only are the people here engineering the future, but there is also a passion for serious impact on campus.”
Lughmani with Jon Reed, the former Green Beret with whom he worked to aid the evacuation of Kabul. Courtesy photo
AFGHAN EVACUATIONS: THE ‘DIGITAL DUNKIRK’
In the first couple of weeks of starting at Berkeley, Lughmani was brought into assisting with evacuations through the Pat Tillman Foundation and the Special Operations Association of America (SOAA). He was connected to a former Green Beret, Jon Reed, who happened to live in Berkeley. The pair worked together to get Afghans into the airport in Kabul, provide shelter through their network of safehouses across Afghanistan, and complete safe passages to other countries by joining forces with other veterans, active-duty service members, intelligence professionals, and civil servants who volunteered to help Afghans flee Taliban retaliation.
These remote, military volunteer evacuation efforts are part of a movement called Digital Dunkirk, which references the evacuation of stranded allied soldiers from the beaches of northern France in World War II.
Lughmani says that Afghans are discouraged by the state department’s delayed efforts. However, they have a tremendous amount of trust and confidence in veterans due to the bond they created when overseas. He explains that the biggest challenge right now is getting the state department to approve visas for stranded Afghans before it’s too late. “People are running out of places to hide, and it won’t be long before the Taliban or ISIS-K are onto them. We can’t afford any more bureaucratic breakdowns,” he explains.
While Afghans await their immigration status, getting aircraft for evacuations and maintaining SOAA’s network of safehouses is Lughmani’s primary focus. “We’re hitting the fundraising circuit and asking private citizens and businesses to help us shelter and evacuate our allies. Those funds go entirely to this evacuation effort,” he says.
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JUNAID LUGHMANI
Lughmani describes a typical day of evacuations as starting and ending with checking in with displaced Afghans across Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Middle East. These people are hiding from the Taliban and are either awaiting their immigration status from the state department or seeking asylum.
“My phone is active all day as I receive pleas for help from frantic Afghans,” he says. “I’ve dealt with families who have had loved ones abducted and tortured by the Taliban, people who were victims of the Taliban’s retribution killings, and single women who are in hiding for fear of being raped or forced into marriage with a member of the Taliban.”
Even though he’s in business school, Lughmani says that helping Afghanistan is his main priority. Thankfully, he’s been able to lean on his Berkeley community for support. “It was a struggle to balance evacuations and school, especially in the early days when I was adjusting to the new reality. I won’t ever forget the generosity of my classmates who made me Indian food, brought me snacks to class so that I could stay awake, and my study group members who rallied around me and helped me catch up with academics after missing the first few weeks of school,” he says.
“I don’t know what a normal MBA experience is like,” he continues. “The task at hand is to help as many people in Afghanistan as possible. Unfortunately, the job of evacuating allies has been left to veterans and civilian volunteers, and we can’t rest until the job is done.”
Haas and Stanford GSB students during a collection drive to help Afghan refugees. Junaid Lughmani is on the far right. Courtesy photo
SUPPORTING AFGHAN REFUGEES
When Lughmani learned of the conditions of Afghan refugees at military installations across the nation, he wanted to take action. “Aid organizations have a prolonged process they must follow, so the Haas Veterans Club took matters into its own hands,” he says. “Leaning on our military, veteran, and Afghan networks, we started a collection drive and identified communities across northern California to directly deliver aid to.”
While Lughmani focused his efforts on helping at-risk Afghans evacuate the country, the Haas Veterans Club members drove the refugee initiative. Their drive collected clothing, household appliances, personal care items, and baby supplies for refugees — totaling over 5,000 items. Lughmani says that his classmates Livia Johnson and Dillon Freeman led the entire effort for the refugee collection drive. Plus, Haas students pitched in to help put up flyers across campus, transport items from the collection point to the storage facility, and even collect items from their neighbors.
“When we distributed the goods to the refugees, I could sense that it was a meaningful experience for my classmates. It was as though they realized that these were the people who were fortunate enough to get through the gates at the airport in Kabul,” he says.
To double down on their impact, the club decided to ask veterans at the Stanford Graduate Business School to join the initiative. The school eagerly jumped at the chance to be involved. “That’s when we thought we could scale this initiative. Since then, schools across the country have joined our efforts.” he continues. “I’m hopeful we will make a meaningful difference in the lives of these new Americans.”
Aside from Stanford, they’ve reached out to several schools and have gained their involvement in supporting Afghan refugees across the country, such as New York University Stern School of Business, University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, University of California Los Angeles Anderson School of Business, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.
GROWING UP IN TWO WORLDS
Part of Lughmani’s ability to help evacuate Afghans and support refugees comes from his unique background.
Lughmani was born and raised in the Bronx, New York, by Pashtun parents who immigrated to the U.S in the mid 1980s from the tribal areas of western Pakistan. He describes himself as having grown up in two worlds. “I’m American, and I’m also Pashtun,” he says.
Following his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Buffalo, the 2008 financial crisis hit. Needing to take care of his family, he took a unique opportunity to go to Afghanistan to support the U.S. troops using his language skills. “It completely changed the trajectory of my future,” he says. “It was a unique experience being an interpreter because both the Afghans and the Americans viewed me as their own, and I was the bridge between the two. It was an important and sensitive role because I was responsible for fostering trust and cohesion between them.”
From 2009 to 2012, Lughmani was an interpreter and acted as a liaison between the U.S. and Afghan governments directly engaged in U.S. foreign policy, economic development, and military operations.
“Whether I was interpreting for Bob Gates, the former secretary of defense, or going on a patrol through a village, I gained extraordinary life experience early in my career. As an interpreter, you’re the face of the mission. For a kid from the Bronx, that experience was unbelievable to me at the time. There were moments that I had to pinch myself and ask, ‘am I really here?’”
When he returned to the U.S. in 2012, he worked at a healthcare consulting startup. But this experience was short-lived. “I was miserable, and I missed Afghanistan. I wanted to go back, but this time, as a soldier.’” he explains.
AN INFANTRY SOLDIER
Between 2014 and 2018, Lughmani joined the army, despite concerns from his family and friends. “It was something that I felt I needed to do,” he says. “My life would not have been possible if not for America, and I felt a tremendous obligation to serve the country that had given me and my family so much.”
He says that joining the army was a rude awakening. “I was in bootcamp, getting yelled at and thinking to myself, ‘what did I get myself into? How am I going to survive the next four years?’” he explains.
While he was hoping to go into intelligence, he was placed in the infantry. This felt out of his comfort zone as he describes himself as a ‘city kid.’ “At first I was intimidated, but branching infantry ended up being the biggest blessing in my life,” he says. “The infantry helped me push my mind and body beyond what I thought were its limits. I learned a lot about myself, mainly that I could do more — mentally and physically — than I thought was possible.”
Soon, he says he’d built deep relationships with those in the infantry. “Before I knew it, I was chewing tobacco, wearing flannel shirts, and listening to country music,” he laughs. “The infantry is the heart and soul of the army, and I’m so grateful for the experience. Those relationships will always be special to me.”
Lughmani during the Make Your Mark Awards. Photo © Tipping Point Photography
MAKING AN IMPACT
After transitioning from the army, Lughmani worked on Wall Street in institutional sales, and later as the chief of staff for his mentor, Brian Rathjen, at Roberts & Ryan Investments. However, he missed being in the trenches and having a direct impact on a mission. “I wanted to impact lives, even on Wall Street,” he says. “But it didn’t feel like I could do so, and I yearn for that. I decided to go to business school so that I could do something transformative and beneficial to society at large.”
He believes that good mentors were what made a difference in his life. “I really didn’t have any mentors in my life until I went to Afghanistan and was exposed to the military. The people I met there saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. Any success that I’m able to achieve in my life is because of them. Those relationships I owe to Afghanistan.”
HOW AFGHANS TAUGHT HIM THE POWER OF HUMAN CONNECTION
Lughmani says that spending time in an active war zone led him to witness the absolute best and worst of mankind. Mostly, though, the experience taught him the power of human connection. “The hospitality in Afghanistan is like no other,” he says. “The elders treated me like their own son. The love they gave me… I’ve never felt that type of love anywhere else.”
As he helps to evacuate Afghans, again he’s been reminded of the power of their love. “These people have nothing but they have everything,” he says. “Here they are, running, scrambling for their lives, trying to stay alive. They have nothing, but when you speak to them and they send you photos with their families, trapped in a room in a safe house, you see the love that shines through — the love that they have for each other.”
‘MOMENTS OF KINDNESS SYMBOLIZE OUR SHARED HUMANITY’
Lughmani describes his love for the country as ‘profound’ — not just because of his ancestral ties to Afghanistan, but also for his experiences there. “We made tremendous progress in Afghanistan,” he explains. “Thousands and thousands of miles of roads have been built, as well as hospitals, clinics, and schools. Millions of children, including girls, were able to go to school. Afghans today have cell phones and access to the internet. We owe a lot of that to the U.S. military, standing side by side with allies to help build their society. You can’t experience something like that and not have it impact your heart,” he explains.
According to Lughmani, this war has taught him that we human beings are not very different from one another. “I always loved getting Americans and Afghans together to make bread,” he says. “That’s when I realized that the farm boy from Kansas isn’t too different from the villager from Kandahar. There are so many narratives that do so much to divide us.”
While the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has brought great loss and suffering for Afghans, it’s also prompted acts of compassion from around the world. “Amidst the crisis, these moments of kindness symbolize our shared humanity.”
Junaid Lughmani in Afghanistan. Courtesy photo
THE TRANSITION TO B-SCHOOL
Growing up in the Bronx, Lughmani says he never pictured himself in business school, nor did he ever think it would be a possible feat for him. However, he was driven by the impact he wanted to create. While he originally wanted to get into HBS, he ended up getting accepted to Berkeley.
“Everything happens for a reason,” he says. “Berkeley doubled down on blockchain and cryptocurrency years ago, and they were so far ahead of the game. That was the big draw for me. This is going to be my way of helping change the world.”
With the strong collaboration between the different disciplines and communities at Berkeley, such as the electrical engineering and computer science students, he’s eager to learn from others and gain a better understanding of how he can leverage these technologies for good.
THE POWER OF BEING IN THE ‘IN-BETWEEN SPACES’
Since being so heavily involved in the Afghanistan evacuations, Lughmani was honored by the Pat Tillman Foundation for his work. As one of 60 Tillman Scholars, he, along with Kate Hoit and Rick Schumacher, accepted the “Make Your Mark” award on behalf of the Digital Dunkirk organizers.
In his acceptance speech, Lughmani spoke about cultivating hope and the willingness to be in the ‘in-between spaces.’ “These spaces are matters of the heart; it’s where we develop compassion, empathy, and kindness for one another,” he says.
“We can’t look at this as a black and white issue, where the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan and people were left behind,” he continues. “That’s the grey space — the in-between space — where we simply must do what is right, regardless of the outcomes.”
THE FUTURE OF AFGHANISTAN
Lughmani says he will never forget the fall of Kabul. “Kabul is one of the most fascinating places in the world,” he says. “Newly built skyscrapers and blue-domed mosques adorn the city skyline with fading mountains in the background. It’s a city of poets and artistry, and remnants of over forty years of war are abundant.”
He says while no one can predict exactly what the future holds for Afghanistan, the first task is to get through the winter and take action on the humanitarian crisis that’s underway, as over half of the population may go hungry.
While Lughmani feels dismayed by the unwillingness of the government to accelerate the evacuation of Afghans, he says he continually comes back to a saying he heard by an Afghan commentator: “The spirit of America does not lie in its government, rather it lies in its lionhearted people.”
“Afghanistan faces an uncertain future,” Lughmani says. “I just pray that one day, it will be at peace.”
To make a donation to help Afghans in need, visit the GoFundMe page, From Heart to Hand: Feeding Afghans
DON’T MISS ‘I LOST SEVERAL FRIENDS’: MBA VETERANS REFLECT ON THE END OF WAR IN AFGHANISTAN and ‘THRIVING IN A COMPLEX WORLD’: GEORGETOWN’S NEW INITIATIVE & THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS EDUCATION
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