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its relevance in Afghanistan

Militancy in Islamism and
its relevance in Afghanistan

Markus Håkansson, February 9, 2005

Biographies of speakers, March 10-11

Frida Blom, President, Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society(SPAS), Sweden
BA in political sciences at the University of Stockholm 1999, MA in peace and conflict research at the University of Uppsala 2000. Worked from 2000 at the office of SPAS in Stockholm as political secretary. Elected President of SPAS in 2003.

Haider Reza, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Afghanistan
B.Sc. in Biology and Chemistry at Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin USA in1976. M.D. in surgery at the Kabul University Medical College in 1982. Migrated to Pakistan in 1982. Joined The Mujahidin in Panjshir and worked as a doctor. Worked for SCA in Peshawar, Pakistan as a Medical Coordinator 1984-1990, with many trips to Afghanistan. 1991-1995 he served as. Regional Director of SCA in Takhar province, northern Afghanistan. President and Secretary General of the Afghan Red Crescent Society 1995 to September 1996 (takeover of Taliban). ICRC delegate in Iraq 1999-2000 and in former Yugoslavia (Serbia) 2000 - Feb 2002. From 2002 he holds the post of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Ali Ahmed Jalali, Minister of Interior, Afghanistan
(Biography to be added)

Said T Jawad, Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States
Educated in law and political science at Kabul University. Studies in law at the Westfaelische Wilhelms University, Germany. In 1986 he moved to the US and received an executive master’s degree of business administration from Golden Gate University, San Francisco. Ambassador Jawad previously served as Chief of staff for President Hamid Karzai, as well as the President’s Spokesman, Press Secretary and Director of the Office of International Relations at the Presidential Palace from March 2001 to September 2003. He participated in reconstructing the Ministry of Defence and the national army of Afghanistan as well as in the process of drafting the new constitution. In addition, he has worked as a writer and commentator on Afghan and international affairs.

Ingmar Karlsson, Consul General in Istanbul
Graduated at the School of Economics, Gothenburg, and has a BA at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Doctor of Divinity. From 1967 employed at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After working at the Swedish embassies in Bogota, Wien, Alger, Damaskus, Beijing och Bonn, he became Ambassador and Head of policy planning at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1996-2001 he served as Ambassador in Prag and Bratislava. Today he is Ambassador and Head of policy planning at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Up to now Mr Karlsson has published 10 books.

Ahmad Zia Langari, Commissioner, Human Rights Commission, Afghanistan
B.Sc in Agriculture, Kabul University, 1977. International training in the area of human rights, emergency relief, conflict resolution, project management, development and gender awareness. Participated in international conferences on protection and promotion of human rights and good governance. Mr Langari worked with the Ministry of Agriculture, Kabul for fourteen years in the field of agricultural planning, and eleven years with Afghan and international NGOs with agriculture and human rights issues.
Presently Mr Langari is a Commissioner of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission with particular responsibility for the monitoring human rights situation as well as the relation with civil society and international human rights organisations.

Shahmahmood Miakhel, Deputy Minister of Interior, Afghanistan
(Biography to be added)

Ahmad Moussalli, Professor American University, Beirut, Lebanon
Professor in Political Studies, specialised in Islamic political history and studies, Islamic political theory, ideologies of contemporary Islamic movements. He is also an expert in cultural theory and studies, political philosophy; and international relations. He has published a number of books on these issues, the most well-known being “The Islamic Quest for Democracy Pluralism, and Human Rights: From Classical and Medieval Roots to Modern Discourses”.
Dr Moussalli got his Ph.D grade at the University of Maryland, USA, in 1985.

Ahmed Rashid, Journalist, Pakistan
Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist and writer based in Lahore writes for a wide array of newsapapers, magazine in the US, UK and Pakistan. He appears regularly on international TV and radio such as CNN and BBC World.
His books 'Taliban: Islam, Oil and the new Great Game in Central Asia' and 'Jihad, The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia' have been world-wide bestsellers and are translated into many languages. In November 2002, on the invitation by Secretary General Kofi Annan, he became the first journalist to address the UN General Assembly on the commemoration of the signing of the Bonn agreement on Afghanistan.

Carl Söderbergh, Director Amnesty International, Sweden
Carl Söderbergh is Director and Secretary General of Amnesty International (Sweden)since 1999??. Previously, he worked for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. During the 1990's, he was stationed in Pakistan, working on legal protection issues concerning Afghan refugees. He has led a project funded by the Norwegian Refugee Council, where Afghans at risk (particularly women and minorities) were evacuated from the border area and hidden in 'safe houses'. Since joining Amnesty, Mr Söderbergh has regularly visited the region. During the bombing campaign of 2001, he interviewed refugees in order to document the bombing of civilian areas. He helped set up Amnesty's office in Kabul and has conducted a mission to northern Afghanistan in order to analyse the situation of returning refugees. Since then has continued to travel to Afghanistan in support of Amnesty's presence there.