PrintShahmahmood Miakhel
Country Director, Afghanistan
Countries: Afghanistan
Shahmahmood Miakhel is the chief of party for Afghanistan programs and is based in USIP's Kabul office. Prior to joining USIP, Miakhel worked as a governance adviser/deputy head of governance unit for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) (2005-2009). From 2003-2005, Miakhel served as the deputy minister of interior of Afghanistan. Miakhel has also worked as a reporter for Pashto and Dari Services of Voice of America (1985-1990) and as the deputy director of SOS/Belgium, an international nongovernmental organization that works for Afghan refugees in Pakistan. He worked as a consultant on the Williams-Afghan Media Project at Williams College, Massachusetts, to preserve war footage of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Miakhel was elected to the Emergency Loya Jirga in 2002 as well as to the Peace Jirga between Afghanistan and Pakistan in August 2007. He has published two books in Pashto: "Emergency Loya Jirga and the Election Process in the Eastern Provinces of Afghanistan," and "In the Light of Truth." The latter is a personal account of the Mujahideen uprising in the Khas Kunar district of Kunar Province, and of refugee life in Peshawar, Pakistan. Miakhel was born in Afghanistan and has an executive M.B.A. from Preston University in Pakistan. He also studied Agriculture at Kabul University and in 2006 he completed a fellowship program on Democracy, Development and Rule of Law at Stanford University.
Publications & Tools
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USIP's experts on Afghanistan provide a preview of the key issues at the NATO summit in Chicago. Countries: Afghanistan
| Issue Areas: Political Reform, Post-Conflict and Peacekeeping Activities, Security Sector Reform/Governance
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The authors have worked for many years in the Kabul office of the United States Institute of Peace in Afghanistan on local governance and rule of law projects. Shahmahmood Miakhel is USIP's Country Director in Afghanistan. From 2003-2005 he was deputy minister of the Interior. Noah Coburn is a political anthropologist focusing on informal justice in Afghanistan and is currently teaching at Skidmore College. He has been conducting research in Afghanistan since 2005 and is the author of "Bazaar Politics: Pottery and Power in an Afghan Market Town." This report is based upon observations by the two authors, field visits to the south, east, southeast, west and center of the country, discussions with government officials, local leaders and members of the international community. |
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USIP experts provide a quick analysis on Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's announcement about the U.S. ending the combat mission earlier than expected. |
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USIP’s Afghanistan country director, Shahmahmood Miakhel, discusses the key events and issues of 2011, and what we should be looking out for in 2012, such as possible peace talks with the Taliban. |
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USIP experts look back at 2011 and ahead to 2012 on the Two Sudans, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Arab/Israeli conflict, gender issues, and more. |
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USIP’s Shahmahmood Miakhel, who heads the Institute’s office in Kabul, discusses the state of play in Afghanistan as the U.S. debates its strategy in Afghanistan. Countries: Afghanistan
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Political Reform, Religion and Peacemaking, Rule of Law
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Experts from the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) are closely following developments in Afghanistan, Pakistan and U.S. policy. In a series of reports and interviews, they cover a wide range of issues. |
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Currently numerous disputes at the local level are unresolved in Afghanistan, leading to local instability, a growing distance between the government and people and encouraging communities to turn to the Taliban. In March 2010, USIP began working with local elders, government officials (particularly governors and officials from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs) and religious figures to address a range of disputes in Nangarhar and Kunar provinces in eastern Afghanistan. |
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Afghanistan is an exceptionally fissiparous country, riven by innumerable conflicts over scarce resources and longstanding enmities between neighboring groups. Traditionally, such disputes have been managed by ad hoc groups of elders, known as jirgas or shuras. In the past 30 years, the stature and security of the jirga system and of the elders themselves have been challenged and undermined by all the parties contending for power, including the state itself. Countries: Afghanistan
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On March 11, 2010 USIP's Chief of Party in Afghanistan Shahmahmood Miakhel gave a speech at the Wilton Park Conference 1022 "Winning 'Hearts and Minds' in Afghanistan: Assessing the Effectiveness of Development Aid in COIN (Counter Insurgency) Operations." His speech was entitled "The Role of Development Aid in the Afghanistan Campaign." |
Additional Selected Works
Publications
- "A Plan to Stabilize Afghanistan," The Afghanistan Papers, May 2010.
- Viewpoint in "Afghanistan, 1979-2009: In the Grip of Conflict." Middle East Institute, November 2009
Speeches
- The Role of Development Aid in the Afghanistan Campaign, Wilton Park Conference 1022: "Winning ‘Hearts & Minds’ in Afghanistan:
Assessing the Effectiveness of Development Aid in COIN (Counter Insurgency) Operations," March 11-14, 2010.