Said T. Jawad short bio

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Career

Ambassador of Afghanistan to the Russian Federation

Embassy of Afghanistan – Moscow

December 2020 – April 2022

Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United Kingdom

Non-Resident Envoy To Ireland

Embassy of Afghanistan – London

March 2017 to December 2020

Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States of America

Non-Resident Envoy to Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico

Embassy of Afghanistan – Washington, DC

November 2003 to October 2010

Chief of Staff of the President Of Afghanistan

Presidential Palace – Kabul

May 2002 to November 2003

Press Secretary and Spokesperson to the President

Presidential Palace – Kabul

March 2002 to May 2002

Chief Executive Officer

Capitalize LLC

Strategic Consulting: Investment, Security, and Development – Washington, DC

November 2010 to March 2017

Diplomat-in-Residence

Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government – Cambridge, MA

October 2010 to February 2011

Senior Fellow

Johns Hopkins University, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies – Washington, DC

January 2011 – January 2012

Chairman and Founder

The Foundation for Afghanistan – Washington, DC

April 2004 – March 2017

Global Political Strategist

APCO Worldwide – Washington, DC

March 2010 – March 2017

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State Governance

• • Fundamentally reorganized the Office of the President of Afghanistan and managed domestic and international policy issues, including security, military, and development matters.
  • Formulated national policies, prioritized governmental tasks in a post-conflict situation and implemented reforms in the fragile political environment.
  • Participated in the cabinet and the National Security Council meetings.
  • Met with world political and military leaders and worked directly with USA, NATO and military experts on rebuilding the Afghan National Army and reforming the Ministry of Defense.

• • Drafted presidential decrees, laws and regulations, including the foreign investment laws of Afghanistan, and reviewed and revised major agreements between the government of Afghanistan and foreign institutions and oversaw the process of drafting Afghanistan’s new constitution.
  • Managed all state visits and foreign trips of the Head of State, met with the leaders of foreign states, and participated in international summits and conferences.

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Diplomacy

• • Re-established the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington, DC and developed it into the highest profiled Afghan international mission, and established diplomatic relations with Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico.
  • Managed all aspects of diplomacy, defense, security, and development of Afghanistan through close interaction with the UK government and agencies, the White House, State Department, Pentagon, US Congress, media.
  • Received the Diplomat of the Year Award by the Diplomat Magazine for the Embassy’s responsiveness, engagement, and activity.
  • Managed the convening of the historic “Camp David” talks between President Bush and President Karzai in 2005 and coordinated state visits and foreign trips of Afghan leaders to economic summits in Berlin, Tokyo, Paris, Rome, and London, as well as NATO Security Conferences in Brussels and Warsaw.

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Corporate Governance

• • Led a dynamic team of international business experts at Capitalize, advising foreign governments and international corporations and investors on politics, defense, security, market entry, commercial opportunities, and development strategies in the Central Asia and Gulf regions, including Afghanistan.

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Conflict Transformation

• • Extensive practical experience of top-level peacemaking and community level peacebuilding, while conducting peace talks for conflict transformation with insurgents, spoilers, and a variety of actors to end violence and deconstruct unjust and unlawful power structures that fed conflict.
  • Passionate advocate of human rights, women’s empowerment, social justice, and equitable conflict resolution with a solid track record of work for social justice, access to quality education, democracy, and pluralism.
  • Founded the Foundation for Afghanistan, dedicated to providing high quality education for Afghan girls from conflict areas in Afghanistan.

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Public Engagements

• Represented Afghanistan in over fifty key international economic and security conferences in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia, and/or coordinated and accompanied the leaders of Afghanistan to international summits.
• Lectured at Ivy League academic institutions, including Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University, Stanford University, University of California-Berkeley, Kansas State University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, University of Texas, as well as the National Defense Intelligence College and National Defense University.
• Featured in interviews produced by many prominent media outlets, including NBC’s “Meet the Press,” CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer,” Bloomberg’s “Night Talk with Mike Schneider,” CBS, C-SPAN, Al Jazeera, BBC, and Voice of America.
• Frequent speaker at think tanks such as the RAND Corporation, the Brookings Institute, the U.S. Institute of Peace, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Council on Foreign Relations, Center for American Progress, New America Foundation, American Bar Association, American Enterprise Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Asia Society, Observer Research Foundation of India, Emirate Center for Strategic Studies, Fredrich Ebert Foundation of Germany, Council on Foreign Relations of Brazil, and Center of Implementation of Public Policy of Argentina.
• Published hundreds of articles and commentaries in the United States, Europe, and Afghanistan, and op-eds that have appeared in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time, The International Herald Tribune, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, The Guardian, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy, and authored “The realities of War and Rebuilding in Afghanistan” published in 2005 in the United States, and “Be the Provider of Relief, Not an Inquisitor of Belief,” published in Kabul in 2016.

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Education

Golden Gate University, School of Business

San Francisco, CA

Executive MBA, December 2001

W. Wilhelms University, School of Law

Muenster, Germany

Extensive studies in international, civil and criminal laws, 1981 to 1984

Kabul University, School of Law and Political Science

Kabul, Afghanistan

LLB, 1980

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Awards And Honors

Constitutional Loya Jirga Service Medal

President of Afghanistan

Kabul, Afghanistan, 2003

Honorary Doctorate Degree in Organization Leadership

Argosy University

Washington, DC 2007

Award of Merit for Rebuilding a Nation

The American Society for Engineering Education

Washington, DC 2007

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Languages              

English, German, French, Farsi, and Pashto