Born in Herat in 1964, Dr Saba holds an MSc in Economic Geology from Kabul Polytechnic University and a PhD in Earth Sciences from the University of Mumbai. He also studied geographic information systems and gemology in Canada and India. He spent six years teaching at Kabul Polytechnic and has worked with both Afghan government institutions and international development agencies on strategic planning and sustainable resource governance.

He served as Governor of Herat from 2010 to 2013 and as Minister of Mines and Petroleum from 2015 to 2016, where he was known for his technocratic leadership and policy reform agenda. He has authored numerous publications on economic development, democracy, and natural resource management, and co-authored Afghanistan’s Human Development Reports in 2005 and 2007.

Dr Saba speaks Persian, Pashto, English, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu.