Turhan Saleh Appointed New UNDP Resident Representative in Afghanistan

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has announced that Turhan Saleh officially assumed his duties as the agency’s new Resident Representative in Afghanistan on July 15, 2026. His appointment comes at a critical juncture, as Afghanistan continues to grapple with overlapping humanitarian, economic, and development crises that have left millions in need of sustained international support.

Saleh brings nearly three decades of extensive experience within the UN system, having held a series of senior leadership roles across UNDP’s operational, policy, and crisis-response frameworks. Prior to his arrival in Kabul, he served as Senior Adviser in UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Arab States, where he specialized in managing transitions from UN peacekeeping and special political missions expertise that will be vital in Afghanistan’s complex and fluid environment.

From December 2023 to March 2026, Saleh was Deputy Director of UNDP’s Crisis Bureau, a position in which he oversaw crisis operations, humanitarian-to-development linkages, innovative crisis financing, and strategic policy formulation. Earlier, from May 2019 to November 2023, he was UNDP Resident Representative in Ethiopia, where he led one of the agency’s largest country programs amid conflict, climate shocks, and food insecurity.

Saleh’s institutional memory within UNDP is deep: he joined the organization in 1997 as a Policy Adviser in the Office of the Administrator and has since worked directly with four UNDP Administrators. Over his career, he has contributed to the development of nearly all of UNDP’s strategic plans. His prior posts include Director of the Millennium Development Goals Unit, Deputy Director in the Division for UN Affairs, Country Director and Acting Resident Representative in Nigeria, Chief of the Country Support Team in the Regional Bureau for Africa, and Strategic Plan Coordinator in the Executive Office.

Before entering UNDP, Saleh began his UN career with UNICEF in 1989, serving in Ghana and Eritrea, and contributed to UNICEF’s first country programme in post-apartheid South Africa a testament to his long-standing commitment to fragile and transitioning states. He also completed internships with UNICEF, the World Bank, and the United Nations World Food Council early in his career.

Academically, Saleh holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in political economy from Cornell University, a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University, and studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the University of Oxford. His multidisciplinary background bridges economic development, governance, and humanitarian action.

Saleh succeeds Stephen Rodriques, who served as UNDP Resident Representative in Afghanistan from May 2023 and has since been appointed to the same role in Bangladesh. As Saleh steps into his new position, UNDP remains deeply engaged in Afghanistan supporting livelihoods, basic service delivery, community resilience, and local governance, even as the country faces profound constraints on women’s rights, economic collapse, and recurrent natural disasters. His extensive experience in crisis settings is expected to shape UNDP’s strategic response in the years ahead.

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