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Shahmahmood Miakhel is the Country Director in Afghanistan for the US Institute of Peace (USIP). Prior to that he was a Governance Advisor for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), and, from 2003–2005, a Deputy Minister of the Interior in the Government of Afghanistan. In 1994–1995 he worked for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in South and Southeast Afghanistan helping to establish District Rehabilitation Shuras (DRS). He also worked as a reporter for the Pashto service of the Voice of America from 1985–1990.
Originally posted March 2010
Originally posted April 2010
Originally posted March 2010
Originally posted March 2010
Dubai’s Burj Khalifa and Taiwan’s Taipei 101 tower, the world’s two tallest skyscrapers, differ in height by a stunning 1,076 feet, are separated by nearly 4,000 miles of ocean, and are situated in countries and regions which, linguistically and culturally, have little in common ― except business.
Originally posted March 2010
“The current global financial crisis adds further serious complications…we are concerned about the loss of migrants’ jobs; a decrease in migrant remittances; a reduction in Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and most seriously of all, the stigmatization and scapegoating of migrants tending towards xenophobia.”
— William Lacy Swing, IOM Director General at 106th Executive Committee Session, Geneva, June 26, 2009
Originally posted March 2010
Hugh Pope, Turkey/Cyprus Project Director for the International Crisis Group (ICG), discussed the issue of recent speculation regarding Turkey’s “shift away from the West.”
While Washington’s attention was focused on the aftermath of Iraq’s election and a growing confrontation between the Obama Administration and Israel’s Binyamin Netanyahu, another remarkable event was taking place in Libya: the release of hundreds of security prisoners, many with terrorist ties, under the auspices of a rehabilitation program which some in Libya hope could be a model for the rest of the region.
The Middle East Institute is proud to host Aram Nerguizian and David Schenker for a discussion about the pros and cons of US support to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). In 2005, after the withdrawal of Syrian military forces from Lebanon and the subsequent election of a pro-Western Lebanese government, the Bush Administration pledged to help the LAF bolster domestic security and to strengthen state institutions. Since then, the US has provided more than $530 million in security assistance to the LAF and other Lebanese security forces.
This Commentary first appeared as an op-ed in the The National, March 14, 2010.
Iraq’s parliamentary elections have just concluded, but the major political battles are about to begin. At stake is what kind of country Iraq will become. Will Iraq’s progress toward greater stability continue? Will it look east towards Tehran for support and encouragement, or to the United States and its fellow Arabs? The stakes are high, and no one can afford to remain uninterested while Iraq continues its dramatic political evolution.
