For Immediate Release - September 1, 2009
Contact: Lauren Sucher, 202/429-3822

(Washington) - The United States Institute of Peace named J Alexander Thier as director of Afghanistan and Pakistan programs effective September 1, 2009. Respected as a leading authority on both countries, Thier will serve as the coordinator of all USIP programs related to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the cross-border region. Thier will oversee the Institute's efforts both in Washington, D.C. and in the region.

"Alex brings a wealth of experience to this newly created position," said Tara Sonenshine, executive vice president of USIP. "We are fortunate that Alex will be coordinating our activities at this critical time in the region."

J Alexander Thier joined USIP as senior adviser in the Rule of Law Center of Innovation in 2005. Thier oversaw the dramatic expansion of USIP rule of law efforts in Afghanistan, directing programs to establish relations between Afghanistan's formal and informal justice systems and implement the new Afghan constitution. As co-chair of USIP’s Afghanistan and Pakistan Working Groups he has helped to lead the policy discussion in Washington. He is co-author and editor of "The Future of Afghanistan" (USIP, 2009) and co-author of a number of significant policy papers including "The Next Chapter:  The United States and Pakistan" (Pakistan Policy Working Group, 2008) and "Killing Friends, Making Enemies:  The Impact and Avoidance of Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan" (USIP, 2008). He also wrote the USIPeace Briefing entitled "A Toxic Cocktail:  Pakistan's Growing Instability," in February 2008.

Before joining USIP in 2005, Thier served as the director of the Project on Failed States at Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. From 2002 to 2004, Thier was legal adviser to Afghanistan's Constitutional and Judicial Reform Commissions in Kabul, where he assisted in the development of a new constitution and judicial system. Thier also lived in Afghanistan and Pakistan from 1993 to 1996, where he served as a U.N. and non-governmental organization official.

Under Thier's leadership, USIP opened an office in Kabul 18 months ago and has been training local Afghan facilitators in mediation and conflict resolution. The Institute is also pleased to announce that Shahmahmood Miakhel, former Afghan Deputy Minister of Interior and senior U.N. political adviser, has been named USIP chief of party in Afghanistan effective September 1, 2009. In Pakistan, the Institute has been active for many years in civil society building, training women parliamentarians, improving the educational system, and promoting religious tolerance.