His Afghan government leader father reportedly fled Kabul in a helicopter stuffed with $169million in cash and four cars - but Tarek Ghani leads an altogether different existence as an economics professor residing in one of America's most genteel neighborhoods, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Life for the 39-year-old son of exiled Ashraf Ghani could not be more different to the horror unfolding on the streets of the Afghan capital where the Taliban are beginning to exert their rule of terror and killing.
He and partner Elizabeth Pearson own an immaculate $1.2million red-painted town house just a mile from the Capitol building in a charming Washington DC enclave, its patchwork of streets lined with trees and other similar upscale properties.
The power couple bought their three-bedroom, three-bathroom home for $959,000 in 2018 and it has rocketed in value since the Covid pandemic. The area's average real estate prices are in the country's top seven percent.
Tarek Ghani (pictured) is the son of exiled Afghan president Ashraf Ghani who fled the country Sunday in a helicopter stuffed with $169million in cash and four cars
Tarek (far left) is pictured with his mother Rula (second from right), father Ashraf Ghani (second from left), sister Mariam (right), and his grandparents
DailyMail.com spotted Tarek enjoying some leisure time in the Logan Circle area, but he refused to comment on the unfolding situation in Afghanistan
Tarek, 39, is as an economics professor. Following his 24-month break from academia, Tarek is now back in his former role as assistant professor of strategy at the private Washington University in St Louis, where he lectures at the Olin Business School
Tarek was born in the United States and grew up in Maryland with Ashraf, Lebanese-born mom Rula and sister Mariam, 43 – who DailyMail.com revealed is a Brooklyn hipster.
Tarek and his partner Elizabeth Pearson (pictured) make quite the power couple. She is Senator Elizabeth Warren's legislative director
He has just returned to a professorship after a two-year stint as chief economist for the International Crisis Group, which describes itself as 'an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict'.
And that is after a hoard of distinguished academic achievements and associations with other leading bodies tied with the country's most prestigious universities.
For his work with the Center for Global Development – a non-profit think-tank based in DC and London – the organisation wrote: 'Tarek Ghani's dedication to global prosperity and poverty eradication is not only part of who he is; it is also a large part of where he comes from.
'While an undergraduate at Stanford, he took a year off to live in Afghanistan and serve as an assistant to his father Ashraf Ghani, who served as the finance minister after the fall of the Taliban.
'Witnessing the process of nation-building in a fragile state clearly had a profound effect on him, as it serves as a defining aspect of his promising career.'
Yet despite his proud heritage, expertise and background fighting to prevent war, he bluntly refused to discuss the unfolding situation in Afghanistan when DailyMail.com turned up at his home to ask him about it.
He forcefully said 'no', and closed the front door.
Some hours later he was spotted enjoying some leisure time in the Logan Circle area, one of DC's most fashionable.
First he went into an upscale watch and leather goods store. Wearing blue shorts, a blue shirt and flip-flops, he then headed for an outside table at a trendy café-diner.
There he waited, before being joined by an unknown female friend. The pair hugged and then sat down to chat over glasses of water.
Tarek and his partner live in this $1.2million townhouse just a mile from the Capitol building in a charming Washington, DC enclave
