Former Afghan Ambassador Said Tayeb Jawad Joins JHU SAIS as Diplomat in Residence
Washington, D.C.—February 23, 2011— Said T. Jawad, Afghanistan’s former ambassador to the United States, has joined the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) as diplomat in residence.
Based at the SAIS South Asia Studies Program, Jawad most recently served concurrently for seven years as the Afghan ambassador to the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico. He also currently serves as chairman of the Foundation for Afghanistan, a nonprofit foundation for building human capital, and is chief executive officer of Capitalize, LLC, a U.S.-based strategic consulting company. He previously served as diplomat in residence at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government within the Future of Diplomacy Project.
As diplomat in residence in SAIS’s Visiting Scholar Program, Jawad will lead the efforts to provide a firsthand understanding of Afghanistan/Pakistan-related challenges. He will engage in a variety of forums, including public speaking engagements, conferences and policy-related planning sessions on the future of Afghanistan, Pakistan and the region; U.S.-Afghanistan relations; and issues pertaining to terrorism, regional stability and their impact on global security. In addition, he will interact with faculty and students at SAIS to provide the perspective of the people from this region of the world.
“I am delighted to join SAIS and look forward to contributing to deepening our understanding of—and seeking policy solutions for—the serious challenges that we face in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central and South Asia. It is a distinct pleasure to work with scholars and students from more than 70 countries in the nation’s leading graduate school here in the U.S. capital. I look forward to being part of this prominent school, formed by visionary statesmen to prepare a new generation of leaders to assume their global responsibilities in today’s volatile world,” said Jawad.
“We are extremely pleased that Ambassador Jawad is a part of the SAIS community, enriching our studies and student activity with his experience as a senior diplomat from Afghanistan. SAIS has traditionally been a training ground for diplomats, and South Asia has surely raised some of the greatest diplomatic challenges. We look forward to learning from someone so recently active in the field,” said SAIS Dean Jessica P. Einhorn.
Jawad speaks many languages and has worked extensively with international media and law firms. He returned to Afghanistan after 9/11 to assist in the state-building process, where he played a versatile and crucial role in the government, serving as press secretary and chief of staff to the president of Afghanistan and as director of the Office of International Relations. In these positions, he formulated and managed strategies, implemented policies, worked closely with the international community to build and restore state institutions and prioritized national reforms in Afghanistan. Under his leadership, the Afghan Embassy in Washington, D.C., became the most active and successful Afghan mission abroad.
Jawad received an LL.B. degree from the School of Law and Political Sciences at Kabul University, studied law at Westfälische Wilhelms University in Münster, Germany and earned his M.B.A. from the Golden Gate University in San Francisco. He is the recipient of many international awards and an honorary doctorate degree in organizational leadership.
SAIS is one of the country’s leading graduate schools devoted to the study of international relations. Located along Embassy Row in Washington’s Dupont Circle area, the school enrolls more than 600 full-time graduate students and mid-career professionals and has trained more than 15,000 alumni in all aspects of international affairs. SAIS also has campuses in Bologna, Italy, and Nanjing, China.