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Social Entrepreneurship

UN Association of Afghanistan Kabul Model United Nations

Policy Advocacy

National Youth Consensus Youth, Peace & Security

Biography

Yahya Qanie

Yahya Qanie is an Afghan-born social entrepreneur, policy advocate, and New York University graduate working at the intersection of international peace & security, inclusive governance, and civic tech.

He is the founder and former President of the United Nations Association of Afghanistan, the co-founder of the National Youth Consensus for Peace, and has served as a global advocate for youth inclusion in decision-making.

Yahya has received the National Olympic Committee of Afghanistan's Honorary Medal twice, in 2017 and 2019, as well as an official letter of appreciation from the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the United Nations and the Office of the UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth.

In 2020, he was invited to speak at the fifth anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 2250. The following year, he addressed the opening ceremony of the High-Level Global Conference on Youth-Inclusive Peace Processes, alongside UN Secretary-General António Guterres and other senior officials.

Yahya has authored and co-authored numerous op-eds, research papers, policy briefs, and strategic recommendations. As part of broader organizational efforts, this work has informed engagement with the U.S. Congress and the State Department, the European Union, and the United Nations. He also served on an international steering group that developed a five-year global roadmap on youth inclusion in peace processes.

Roots

How do we build
something more dignified?

I was born during the Afghan civil war of 1994, as a refugee in Pakistan among millions of other displaced Afghans. I spent much of my childhood between Pakistan and Afghanistan, later living in a southern province where my father, a doctor with Médecins Sans Frontières, served surrounding villages.

I was seven years old in October 2001 when the bombs began to fall, and amid the fear and the promises of freedom, I found myself asking a question no child should have to ask: Why is there war in the first place? And how can we build something more dignified in its place? That question stayed with me long after the sound of the bombs faded. It became less a memory than a responsibility.

I never found a simple answer. Instead, that question became my compass, shaping the next two decades of my life through peacebuilding and institution-building for a more inclusive future.

Twenty years later, I boarded one of the last evacuation flights out of Afghanistan and arrived in the United States in October 2021. What carried me through was the same force that had carried me for years: hope. Today, as a first-generation master's graduate, I continue to build from that hope.

Insights that inform.
Experiences that impact.

Over the years, Yahya Qanie has delivered over 200 keynotes, presentations, and interviews across global forums, diplomatic settings, expert panels, universities, and international media. He has addressed foreign ministers, UN officials, ambassadors, and academics to offer insights drawn from lived experience, research, and fieldwork.

200+Keynotes & Talks
~40Expert Panels
~60Insight Briefs
15+Keynote Speeches
The Independent The IndependentMedia, Newspaper TOLO News TOLO NewsMedia, Broadcast One Young World United Nations Assistance Mission United NationsUNAMA Ministry of Foreign Affairs State of Qatar Observer Research Foundation ATN News Gulf Times Gulf TimesMedia, Newspaper Azadi Radio Azadi RadioMedia, Broadcast Voice of America Voice of AmericaMedia, Online Education Above All United Nations Asia Global Institute
BBC
The Peninsula
United Nations System Staff College
American University School of International Service
NYU SPS
International House New York International HouseNew York
European Union External Action

Keynote Speaker

Global Conference on Youth-Inclusive Peace

Co-Speakers:

António Guterres, UN Secretary-General; Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Deputy Prime Minister & Foreign Minister of Qatar; Pekka Haavisto, Foreign Minister of Finland, and Maria Juliana Ruiz, First Lady of Colombia.

Master of Ceremony

Sunday Supper at International House NYC

Co-Speakers:

Jeh Johnson, former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security; Frank Wisner, former U.S. Under Secretary of Defense; Daisy Soros, Chairperson of Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans; the Board of Trustees and Leadership of I-House.

Briefing

U.S. Congress

Context:

Briefed U.S. House and Senate congressional staff on the first-ever Youth, Peace, and Security Act of 2020 (H.R. 6174), introduced by Representative Grace Meng. The briefing was organized by the Global Coalition on Youth, Peace and Security.

Keynote Speaker

Kabul Model United Nations

Co-Speakers:

Ajmal Ahmadi, Minister of Industry and Commerce; Waheed Omar, Head of Public and Strategic Relation of the Presidential Palace, and Senior Advisor to President of Afghanistan; and Lisa Reffke, Senior Political Affairs Officer at UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan.

A Decade of Leadership
and Social Impact Worldwide

71,000+

Men and women reachedThrough platforms, engagements, partnerships, and collaborations.

7
Platforms founded across Kabul & NY
244
Organizations united across all 34 provinces
12+
Years of leadership and entrepreneurship
70+
Initiatives for civic education
35
Projects completed across 5 countries
71,000+
Men and women reached directly

A Select Record Of

Academic Honors

Afghan Crisis Scholarship, 2022-2024

New York University, School of Professional Studies, M.S. Global Affairs degree.

SIS Martin H. Steiner Scholarship, 2022

American University D.C., School of International Service, Master's degree.

Fulbright Scholarship, 2021

U.S. Department of State, Master's degree.

A Select Record Of

Recognitions

Honorary Medal, 2019

National Olympic Committee of Afghanistan. Recognising sustained youth empowerment.

Honorary Medal, 2017

National Olympic Committee of Afghanistan. Recognising youth empowerment efforts.

Appreciation, 2016-2022

UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth, and former First Lady of Afghanistan.