South Asia

The bill criminalizes exploitative and discriminatory practices such as forced marriages and denial of women’s rightful inheritance. People who engage in these practices, which are customary in some parts of Pakistan, are now subject to hefty fines or up to 10 years in prison.

Though Pakistan’s parliament has a greater proportion of women than the U.K. Parliament or the U.S. Congress, Pakistani women parliamentarians must constantly work against gender bias and prove themselves as serious contributors in the legislature.

The Parliamentarians Network for Conflict Prevention congratulates Dr. Aziz, a member of its Executive Council and a leading member of its working group on Women, Peace and Security. It also congratulates the many female lawmakers who work to improve women’s and human rights in Pakistan. We are proud to continue to work together to support women in their active role in public life.

Click here for more information on the bill.

The Parliamentarians Network for Conflict Prevention is an international, non-partisan, standing structure with a membership of almost 180 parliamentarians from 58 countries across the globe. The Network connects members of parliament to mobilise efforts towards the prevention of conflicts turning violent through diplomatic initiatives and effective collective action. The latest report from the Parliamentarians Network for Conflict Prevention’s working group on Women, Peace and Security is available here.

More than anyone else, Dr. Sibal is responsible for bringing EWI’s Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit to New Delhi for its third annual conference in 2012. His commitment to EWI’s mission, his active collaboration with the Institute’s work, and his deep knowledge of world affairs have been an invaluable asset.

“We thank you for your dedicated commitment to EWI, your willingness to share your vast knowledge of foreign affairs, and your patient coaching of so many of us,” said EWI President John Edwin Mroz in presenting the award.

Dr. Sibal is a former Foreign Secretary of India (2002–2003) and worked more than 35 years with the Indian Foreign Service. He has served as India’s ambassador to Turkey, Egypt and France, and as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India in the United States.

“The success of the Institute’s work depends on the valuable experience of its board members to enable its unique convening role among key policy communities worldwide. These additions to our board reflect our growth in 21st century issue areas and our commitment to private-public partnership,” EWI President and CEO John Edwin Mroz said.

The new board members are: Angela Chen, Anurag Jain, Kevin McGovern, Ronald P. O’Hanley, William A. Owens, and John Rogers.

EWI also thanks departing board members Thor Bjorgolfsson, Don Kendall, Jr., Mike Maples, Frank Neuman, and Hilton J. Smith for their service to the institute and its goals of international cooperation.

Get to know EWI’s new board members by reading their full biographies below.

 

Angela Chen (U.S./China)
Founder and Managing Director, Global Alliance Associates
Director, China Arts Foundation International

Angela Chen’s career spans three decades of global corporate finance and cross-cultural management. She is the Founder of Global Alliance Associates and is a Partner of Epoch Fund, a pioneer private equity fund with sizeable equity investments in Chinese companies. Previously, she was Vice President, Investments at Prudential Securities in New York where she established its International Private Banking Group and developed and managed the Group’s high net worth private client base. Ms. Chen was also Vice President at Merrill Lynch. She launched its China Futures Department and worked with Chinese government officials in establishing the first Securities and Exchange Commission in China.

Ms. Chen was the sole United States representative sent to China by the U.N. Development Program to set forth the first Securities Law and Stock Exchange Law in China. She is a dedicated philanthropist and a Founder of China Arts Foundation whose mission is to improve communication and understanding between the United States and China through cultural exchange programs. Ms. Chen is also a Board Member of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum where she advises on strategy funding and management. She is currently a member of the National Committee on United States – China Relations and an active member of the Asia Society.

 

Anurag Jain (India)
Chairman, Laurus Edutech Pvt. Ltd.

Anurag Jain has founded Viziniti Global, LLC, which is a social entrepreneurship incubator based in the United States and India. Its first incubated venture, Laurus Edutech, trains over 30,000 students in India  in vocational skills using over 35 locations and is scaling a for profit model to train over 250,000 students a year in Asia and Africa. Viziniti is also in the process of incubating models to provide a $1,500 house for the homeless and provide primary health care to rural India.

In addition to serving on the board of the EastWest Institute, Jain serves on the board of the North Texas Food Bank.

Jain was the chairman of the Skill Development Forum for the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). He also served on the Board of the National Skills Development Corporation, a first-of-its-kind public–private partnership in India. He is also chairman of the board of Laurus Institute, a premier not-for-profit skills development think tank in India.

Jain left Dell in 2011, where he used to lead the Services Delivery unit, a global team of more than 18,000 professionals who deliver leading-edge technology solutions to Dell customers around the world. The Services Delivery unit includes Dell’s technology service functions of Infrastructure and Managed Technology Services, Applications, and Business Process Solutions. The organization also included Dell’s Innovation group, which was pioneering technological advancements in areas such as cloud computing, mobility, virtual data services, technology delivery and optimization, and others.

Jain previously led the Perot Systems (now Dell) Applications, Business Process Solutions, Financial Services and Insurance organizations, where he directed global operations and sales to enhance growth and business results. He also served as managing director of the company’s Asia Pacific region.

Jain also previously founded 3 highly successful, large-scale, India-based IT services outsourcing businesses. He co-founded and served as head of operations for Brigade Corporation, a customer support company with employees across centers in the United States, Europe, and India. He then founded Vision Healthsource, a business focused on providing IT services outsourcing to health care providers and payers that was acquired by Perot Systems in 2003. He also co-founded a successful finance and accounting outsourcing business, IQ Backoffice, which was bought by LiveIT based in the Philippines, earlier this year.

In addition, he serves on the board of Asia (Chennai) Engineering, a leading commercial, industrial civil engineering firm in India for more than 40 years.

Jain holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences, Pilani, India.

 

Kevin McGovern (U.S.)
Chairman, The Water Initiative

Kevin M. McGovern is the Chairman and CEO of McGovern Capital, LLC, which provides investments and business strategy to emerging companies, particularly those engaged in consumer technologies and holders of Intellectual Property Rights. He has founded over a dozen companies, seven of which have become world and/or category leaders, including SoBe Beverages, Tristrata (AHA skincare technology), and KX Industries (home-based water purification).

McGovern founded and serves as Chairman and CEO of The Water Initiative (TWI), which develops and markets home-based water purification systems, particularly in developing countries. TWI has worked with the Mexican government and the people of Mexico as its first pilot project. In less than 2 ½ years, TWI has formulated technological solutions to Mexico’s most severe unclean water conditions and has launched product distribution through the government and through those people most impacted.

He has served as Co-Chair of the Advisory Board and Board Member of the USA Pavilion and as the only foreign Senior Advisor to the Development Committee of the 2010 Shanghai World’s Expo.

McGovern co-published the pioneering Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report, which is currently the Forbes/Wolfe Emerging Tech Report.

He created and directs the worldwide licensing program for Tristrata Inc., which owns the rights (over 100 patents) to Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHAs), a successful skin restoration and wrinkle reduction technology. Tristrata licenses over 70 companies and is the leading seller of skincare products to dermatologists and plastic surgeons in over 80 countries.

McGovern is a principal and strategist for Clean Coal Technologies, Inc., which has created proprietary technologies to clean coal; for EnviroFuels Manufacturing, Inc., which markets and distributes proprietary smokeless stoves; and for Aquea Scientific, which developed and markets proprietary nanotechnology to “wash-on” additives to the skin, such as sunscreens.

A graduate of Cornell University (B.A.) and St. John’s University School of Law (J.D.), he is a Presidential Councilor (highest honor to alumni) and Trustee Emeritus of Cornell University, having chaired its IP and Tech Transfer Committees. He also serves on Cornell’s Joint Venture (CNI) in Singapore, Chairs Entrepreneurship at Cornell, and was named Cornell’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2007. He teaches each spring at the Johnson Graduate Business School (Global Innovation and Commercialization) and recently donated and founded the McGovern Family Venture Development Center, Cornell’s first on campus science-business incubator.

 

Ronald P. O’Hanley, III (U.S.)
President, Asset Management and Corporate Services, Fidelity Investments

Mr. O’Hanley is a leading executive in the financial services and mutual fund industry. He spent more than 12 years with BNY Mellon, where he helped the Asset Management division more than double in size and assisted in the substantial growth of the company as a whole.

In 2010, Mr. O’Hanley moved to Fidelity Investments, and now serves in the number-two position to the firm’s CEO, Edward Johnson III, as President of Asset Management and Corporate Services.

Mr. O’Hanley is highly involved in philanthropy and serves on the boards of directors of many organizations in Boston.

Mr. O’Hanley has served previously as the President at Boston Company Asset Management, LLC. After leaving Boston Company Asset Management in 1987, Mr. O’Hanley worked at McKinsey & Company Inc., global management consulting firm, until 1997 where he served as a Partner and Leader of the firm’s worldwide Investment Management division, and co-Leader of its North American Personal Financial Services. During his 10 years with McKinsey, Mr. O'Hanley was based in Boston and Stockholm, focusing on financial services and heath care payers throughout North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

From 1997 to 2001, he served as a Senior Vice President at Mellon Bank, N.A. Prior to the merger of The Bank of New York and Mellon Financial Corporation in July of 2007, Mr. O’Hanley was Vice Chairman of Mellon Financial Corporation and President and Chief Executive Officer of Mellon Asset Management. Following the merger, he became Vice Chairman of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, and a member of the Executive Committee.

Ronald O’Hanley is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Syracuse University. He also attended Vanderbilt University School of Law.

 

Admiral William A. Owens (U.S.)
Chairman, AEA Holdings Asia
Former Vice Chairman, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff

Admiral William Owens is the managing director of AEA Investors in Hong Kong.

Prior to joining AEA, he was Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of Nortel. Mr. Owens had served on the board of directors of Nortel and took the helm of Nortel following the disclosure of accounting issues in April 2004. Under his leadership, Nortel was reestablished as a strong, stable, ethical Fortune 500 company growing strongly and on the path to leadership in the telecommunications and enterprise IT global marketplace.

Prior to joining Nortel, Mr. Owens was chief executive officer and chairman of Teledesic LLC and before that, he was the president, chief operating officer and vice chairman of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), the largest employee-owned high-technology company in the U.S. Prior to joining SAIC, Mr. Owens was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the second-ranking military officer in the United States. He had responsibility for the reorganization and restructuring of the armed forces in the post-Cold War era.

From 1991 to 1993, Mr. Owens was the deputy chief of Naval Operations for Resources, Warfare Requirements and Assessments. He served as commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet in 1990 and 1991 during Operation Desert Storm in Iraq. Between 1988 and 1991, Mr. Owens served as senior military assistant to Secretaries of Defense Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney, the senior military position in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Mr. Owens has served on the board of directors of 19 public companies and has founded two technology companies, Lumera and Extend America. He is on the board of Daimler Chrysler AG, Polycom, Wipro, Embarq and AEA Investors LP. Mr. Owens is a member of several philanthropic boards including the Carnegie Foundation, Brookings Institution and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mr. Owens has a B.A. and M.S. in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University and an M.S. in management from George Washington University.

 

John Rogers (U.S.)
Managing Director, Goldman Sachs & Co.

John F.W. Rogers is the Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Board at Goldman Sachs. He has previously served at the White House for more than 10 years.

Mr. Rogers was Assistant to the President for Management and Administration from 1981 to 1985 and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 1985 to 1987.

From 1988 to 1991, he was Executive Vice President of the Oliver Carr Company.

From 1991 to 1993 he served as Under Secretary of State for Management at the U.S. Department of State.

In 1992 he helped to establish the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.

He joined Goldman Sachs in 1994 and has been the Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Board of Directors since November 2001.

As Executive Vice President, Mr. Rogers’ responsibilities include press and public relations, the firm’s government affairs office in Washington, and Goldman’s considerable philanthropic efforts.

Rogers is member of the Goldman Sachs Foundation and Goldman Sachs Gives, the Baker Institute at Rice University, the American Museum of Natural History, the International Republican Institute, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library, and the Smithsonian Institution.

John F.W. Rogers graduated from Georgetown University and was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal in 1985.

The United States and India are engaged in an unprecedented level of collaboration and joint innovation in cyberspace. As our two economies grow more intertwined in the information age, so do our vulnerabilities. Today, adversaries in cyberspace no longer have to reach one nation’s shores to strike the other. They can strike computer networks in Hyderabad by penetrating those located in Houston, and vice versa. This means India’s ability to fend off cyber attacks is critical to the United States’ economic and national security—just as the United States’ ability to protect our information networks is critical to India’s security. The threat to both our countries is growing.

Read the full article at Mint.

Before Clinton’s visit, Sehgal writes, the United States had two widely differing objectives: (1) to deliver a final wake-up call for Pakistan’s military and its intelligence services and (2) to try to stop the rapid deterioration in the U.S.–Pakistan relationship over accusations that the Pakistani intelligence service ISI is working with the Haqqani network. 

Click here to read Sehgal's piece in The News.

“The success of the Institute’s work depends on the valuable experience of its board members to enable its unique convening role among key policy communities worldwide. These additions to our board reflect our growth in 21st century issue areas and our commitment to private-public partnership,” EWI President and CEO John Edwin Mroz said.

The new board members are: Angela Chen, Anurag Jain, Kevin McGovern, Ronald P. O’Hanley, William A. Owens, and John Rogers.

EWI also thanks departing board members Thor Bjorgolfsson, Don Kendall, Jr., Mike Maples, Frank Neuman, and Hilton J. Smith for their service to the institute and its goals of international cooperation.

Get to know EWI’s new board members by reading their full biographies below.

 

Angela Chen (U.S./China)
Founder and Managing Director, Global Alliance Associates
Director, China Arts Foundation International

Angela Chen’s career spans three decades of global corporate finance and cross-cultural management. She is the Founder of Global Alliance Associates and is a Partner of Epoch Fund, a pioneer private equity fund with sizeable equity investments in Chinese companies. Previously, she was Vice President, Investments at Prudential Securities in New York where she established its International Private Banking Group and developed and managed the Group’s high net worth private client base. Ms. Chen was also Vice President at Merrill Lynch. She launched its China Futures Department and worked with Chinese government officials in establishing the first Securities and Exchange Commission in China.

Ms. Chen was the sole United States representative sent to China by the U.N. Development Program to set forth the first Securities Law and Stock Exchange Law in China. She is a dedicated philanthropist and a Founder of China Arts Foundation whose mission is to improve communication and understanding between the United States and China through cultural exchange programs. Ms. Chen is also a Board Member of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum where she advises on strategy funding and management. She is currently a member of the National Committee on United States – China Relations and an active member of the Asia Society.

 

Anurag Jain (India)
Chairman, Laurus Edutech Pvt. Ltd.

Anurag Jain has founded Viziniti Global, LLC, which is a social entrepreneurship incubator based in the United States and India. Its first incubated venture, Laurus Edutech, trains over 30,000 students in India  in vocational skills using over 35 locations and is scaling a for profit model to train over 250,000 students a year in Asia and Africa. Viziniti is also in the process of incubating models to provide a $1,500 house for the homeless and provide primary health care to rural India.

In addition to serving on the board of the EastWest Institute, Jain serves on the board of the North Texas Food Bank.

Jain was the chairman of the Skill Development Forum for the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). He also served on the Board of the National Skills Development Corporation, a first-of-its-kind public–private partnership in India. He is also chairman of the board of Laurus Institute, a premier not-for-profit skills development think tank in India.

Jain left Dell in 2011, where he used to lead the Services Delivery unit, a global team of more than 18,000 professionals who deliver leading-edge technology solutions to Dell customers around the world. The Services Delivery unit includes Dell’s technology service functions of Infrastructure and Managed Technology Services, Applications, and Business Process Solutions. The organization also included Dell’s Innovation group, which was pioneering technological advancements in areas such as cloud computing, mobility, virtual data services, technology delivery and optimization, and others.

Jain previously led the Perot Systems (now Dell) Applications, Business Process Solutions, Financial Services and Insurance organizations, where he directed global operations and sales to enhance growth and business results. He also served as managing director of the company’s Asia Pacific region.

Jain also previously founded 3 highly successful, large-scale, India-based IT services outsourcing businesses. He co-founded and served as head of operations for Brigade Corporation, a customer support company with employees across centers in the United States, Europe, and India. He then founded Vision Healthsource, a business focused on providing IT services outsourcing to health care providers and payers that was acquired by Perot Systems in 2003. He also co-founded a successful finance and accounting outsourcing business, IQ Backoffice, which was bought by LiveIT based in the Philippines, earlier this year.

In addition, he serves on the board of Asia (Chennai) Engineering, a leading commercial, industrial civil engineering firm in India for more than 40 years.

Jain holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences, Pilani, India.

 

Kevin McGovern (U.S.)
Chairman, The Water Initiative

Kevin M. McGovern is the Chairman and CEO of McGovern Capital, LLC, which provides investments and business strategy to emerging companies, particularly those engaged in consumer technologies and holders of Intellectual Property Rights. He has founded over a dozen companies, seven of which have become world and/or category leaders, including SoBe Beverages, Tristrata (AHA skincare technology), and KX Industries (home-based water purification).

McGovern founded and serves as Chairman and CEO of The Water Initiative (TWI), which develops and markets home-based water purification systems, particularly in developing countries. TWI has worked with the Mexican government and the people of Mexico as its first pilot project. In less than 2 ½ years, TWI has formulated technological solutions to Mexico’s most severe unclean water conditions and has launched product distribution through the government and through those people most impacted.

He has served as Co-Chair of the Advisory Board and Board Member of the USA Pavilion and as the only foreign Senior Advisor to the Development Committee of the 2010 Shanghai World’s Expo.

McGovern co-published the pioneering Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report, which is currently the Forbes/Wolfe Emerging Tech Report.

He created and directs the worldwide licensing program for Tristrata Inc., which owns the rights (over 100 patents) to Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHAs), a successful skin restoration and wrinkle reduction technology. Tristrata licenses over 70 companies and is the leading seller of skincare products to dermatologists and plastic surgeons in over 80 countries.

McGovern is a principal and strategist for Clean Coal Technologies, Inc., which has created proprietary technologies to clean coal; for EnviroFuels Manufacturing, Inc., which markets and distributes proprietary smokeless stoves; and for Aquea Scientific, which developed and markets proprietary nanotechnology to “wash-on” additives to the skin, such as sunscreens.

A graduate of Cornell University (B.A.) and St. John’s University School of Law (J.D.), he is a Presidential Councilor (highest honor to alumni) and Trustee Emeritus of Cornell University, having chaired its IP and Tech Transfer Committees. He also serves on Cornell’s Joint Venture (CNI) in Singapore, Chairs Entrepreneurship at Cornell, and was named Cornell’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2007. He teaches each spring at the Johnson Graduate Business School (Global Innovation and Commercialization) and recently donated and founded the McGovern Family Venture Development Center, Cornell’s first on campus science-business incubator.

 

Ronald P. O’Hanley, III (U.S.)
President, Asset Management and Corporate Services, Fidelity Investments

Mr. O’Hanley is a leading executive in the financial services and mutual fund industry. He spent more than 12 years with BNY Mellon, where he helped the Asset Management division more than double in size and assisted in the substantial growth of the company as a whole.

In 2010, Mr. O’Hanley moved to Fidelity Investments, and now serves in the number-two position to the firm’s CEO, Edward Johnson III, as President of Asset Management and Corporate Services.

Mr. O’Hanley is highly involved in philanthropy and serves on the boards of directors of many organizations in Boston.

Mr. O’Hanley has served previously as the President at Boston Company Asset Management, LLC. After leaving Boston Company Asset Management in 1987, Mr. O’Hanley worked at McKinsey & Company Inc., global management consulting firm, until 1997 where he served as a Partner and Leader of the firm’s worldwide Investment Management division, and co-Leader of its North American Personal Financial Services. During his 10 years with McKinsey, Mr. O'Hanley was based in Boston and Stockholm, focusing on financial services and heath care payers throughout North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

From 1997 to 2001, he served as a Senior Vice President at Mellon Bank, N.A. Prior to the merger of The Bank of New York and Mellon Financial Corporation in July of 2007, Mr. O’Hanley was Vice Chairman of Mellon Financial Corporation and President and Chief Executive Officer of Mellon Asset Management. Following the merger, he became Vice Chairman of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, and a member of the Executive Committee.

Ronald O’Hanley is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Syracuse University. He also attended Vanderbilt University School of Law.

 

Admiral William A. Owens (U.S.)
Chairman, AEA Holdings Asia
Former Vice Chairman, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff

Admiral William Owens is the managing director of AEA Investors in Hong Kong.

Prior to joining AEA, he was Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of Nortel. Mr. Owens had served on the board of directors of Nortel and took the helm of Nortel following the disclosure of accounting issues in April 2004. Under his leadership, Nortel was reestablished as a strong, stable, ethical Fortune 500 company growing strongly and on the path to leadership in the telecommunications and enterprise IT global marketplace.

Prior to joining Nortel, Mr. Owens was chief executive officer and chairman of Teledesic LLC and before that, he was the president, chief operating officer and vice chairman of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), the largest employee-owned high-technology company in the U.S. Prior to joining SAIC, Mr. Owens was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the second-ranking military officer in the United States. He had responsibility for the reorganization and restructuring of the armed forces in the post-Cold War era.

From 1991 to 1993, Mr. Owens was the deputy chief of Naval Operations for Resources, Warfare Requirements and Assessments. He served as commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet in 1990 and 1991 during Operation Desert Storm in Iraq. Between 1988 and 1991, Mr. Owens served as senior military assistant to Secretaries of Defense Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney, the senior military position in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Mr. Owens has served on the board of directors of 19 public companies and has founded two technology companies, Lumera and Extend America. He is on the board of Daimler Chrysler AG, Polycom, Wipro, Embarq and AEA Investors LP. Mr. Owens is a member of several philanthropic boards including the Carnegie Foundation, Brookings Institution and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mr. Owens has a B.A. and M.S. in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University and an M.S. in management from George Washington University.

 

John Rogers (U.S.)
Managing Director, Goldman Sachs & Co.

John F.W. Rogers is the Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Board at Goldman Sachs. He has previously served at the White House for more than 10 years.

Mr. Rogers was Assistant to the President for Management and Administration from 1981 to 1985 and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 1985 to 1987.

From 1988 to 1991, he was Executive Vice President of the Oliver Carr Company.

From 1991 to 1993 he served as Under Secretary of State for Management at the U.S. Department of State.

In 1992 he helped to establish the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.

He joined Goldman Sachs in 1994 and has been the Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Board of Directors since November 2001.

As Executive Vice President, Mr. Rogers’ responsibilities include press and public relations, the firm’s government affairs office in Washington, and Goldman’s considerable philanthropic efforts.

Rogers is member of the Goldman Sachs Foundation and Goldman Sachs Gives, the Baker Institute at Rice University, the American Museum of Natural History, the International Republican Institute, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library, and the Smithsonian Institution.

John F.W. Rogers graduated from Georgetown University and was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal in 1985.

Press contact: Graham Webster, gwebster@ewi.info, +1 212 842 4145

The present Afghan leadership is not capable of sustaining the present western model of democracy and governance; this has been imposed by the west in the mistaken belief that this is suited to a society which remains basically tribal and feudal despite technological advances. Former US Green Beret Captain Amerine who, alongwith his team of 10 Green Berets, was ordered in 2001 to protect Hamid Karzai when the original choice for topmost leader Maulvi Abdul Haq was captured and executed by the Taliban, recently disclosed to journalist Christina Lamb that his HQs had ordered him not to enter Afghanistan unless Karzai could guarantee 300 men on the ground. When they ultimately went in, Karzai, the future president of Afghanistan, could only gather 30 people together!

Europe is awash with constitutional monarchies; one must seriously consider the option of restoring the monarchy in Afghanistan while having a powerful PM, as it used to be before Sardar Daud deposed his cousin Zahir Shah, to ensure unity among the diverse ethnic groups.

The Afghan war has cost Pakistan heavily in human terms. While enhancing our defence and security budget we had to increase allocations for diplomatic efforts, and pay exorbitant economic and social cost estimated to be about US$65 billion. How can one begin to assess the cost to the image of Pakistan as a responsible entity in the comity of nations?

The US has incurred huge cost, some estimate Iraq and Afghanistan at US$4 trillion. Can they continue to do in the current economic climate and a rapidly diminishing appetite, with the EU members not willing to share the cost? What rankles is that there is little or no mention made to the direct cost incurred by Pakistan, as well as the virtual destruction of its socio-political and economic infra-structure. Long after the US and EU have abandoned the present leaders of Afghanistan to their fate, Pakistan will continue to pay a very heavy human cost, quite difficult to quantify the additional cost in socio-political and economic terms.

The 8th Worldwide Security Conference in Brussels organised by the EastWest Institute (EWI), one of the world’s leading think tanks, in cooperation with the World Customs Organisation (WCO) and the Financial Times centred around: (1) sharpening appreciation of the existing security dynamics in Southwest Asia (SWA), (2) analysing new means of promoting collective security in the region, (3) and develop consensus for enhancing security.

In the climate of uncertainty and high risk, the western world must prepare themselves to manage more complex emergencies. Notwithstanding the broad consensus about a durable security policy, the western nations are not geared to address some of the challenges that exist and/or are anticipated in the future described is the present situation in a relevant paper as “a sense of disarray and retreat rather than a commitment to continual reassessment and policy innovation”.

The negative factors influencing the situation include (1) weak commitment among the states in the region to cooperate, to prevent, reduce and/or contain imminent violent conflict, (2) economic growth not consistent with required standard of living, (3) governance remaining weak with power shifting to local actors, ie warlords in the sub-regions, (4) with outside commitment weakening, political leaders facing domestic pressures are reluctant to stake their political future on cooperation. Several risk factors are (1) conflicting requirements of modernisation and tradition (especially religious fundamentalism), (2) likelihood of regional and internal conflicts with a potential for nuclear confrontation and (3) increasing dependence of Europe, Japan and China for energy on this region.

With the exit of the coalition forces, (1) power will shift from governments to both previously weak local actors and anti-state actors, (2) strong demand for democracy, respect of individual rights, adequately compensated employment, education and upward social mobility will impact the legitimacy of governments in the region and (3) military expenditures will increase. The policy recommendations include viz (1) increased coordination between the states of this region, (2) increased regional economic integration, (3) mobilisation of private sector investment in trans-border economic projects and (4) promotion of justice and rule of law for improving governance.

Facts about Pakistan’s sacrifices are generally glossed over, viz (1) the direct and indirect cost to Pakistan as well as collateral damage in both terms of blood and money as well as the lasting damage to its socio-political factors need to be quantified, (2) what about the cost of hosting three million plus Afghans in Pakistan for over two decades? and (3) the cost of Pakistan allowing transit trade without fees and (4) the effect of smuggling on Pakistan’s economy and (5) unrelenting hostile propaganda by the coalition-supported government in Afghanistan affecting public opinion in Pakistan.

What is unfortunate is that no mechanism exists for a dialogue to offset and deal with misperceptions and misrepresentations of facts. Accusations and allegations against Pakistan are based on unsubstantiated facts, using two recent examples, viz (1) Adm Mike Mullen’s unfortunate statement, just before retiring, that Pakistan’s ISI was complicit in the recent attacks on the US Embassy in Kabul alongwith the Haqqani network and (2) consequently Karzai accusing Pakistan of assassinating Burhanuddin Rabbani and using that as a convenient excuse to call off the Tripartite Conference.

The White House has distanced itself from Mullen’s assertion while at the same time encouraging Pakistan to “do more” about the Haqqani network. Given the slogans at Rabbani’s funeral accusing him for Rabbani’s death Hamid Karzai’s accusations were right on cue and understandable. Why indeed did Karzai call him back to attend that particular meeting where he was killed? How better to deflect the allegations in the wake of Mullen’s statement to the world’s favourite bugbear of recent times, the ISI?

While we certainly need to address our counter-terrorism efforts within the Pakistani heartland far better, Pakistan has fought insurgents in its border areas to a standstill at great human cost, taking ten times more casualties than all the coalition countries put together. No one wants to mention the three million plus Afghan refugees spread throughout our soil. Most of Al-Qaeda leaders have been killed by our security forces and 80 percent of Al-Qaeda suspects in Guantanamo Bay were captured by Pakistan.

The evolving consensus is to readjust the role of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) to help the nations find indigenous solutions and encourage countries having credibility in the region, like Turkey, to take a greater role, particularly in enhancing means of livelihood by innovative out-of-the-box thinking.

(Extract from speech given on Oct 3, 2011 at the 8th Worldwide Security Conference organised by the EWI in collaboration with the World Customs Organisation (WCO), Brussels and Financial Times on “Shaping collective security in Southwest Asia, are breakthrough measures possible?”)

 

 

Not a man of many words, Kayani who had partnered with Mullen in papering over frequent tensions in the US-Pakistan relationship over the past four years must have been severely jolted. If nothing else the Pakistani COAS must be deeply embarrassed by this “unkindest cut of all”, Et tu, Mullen? Such trust deficit among the military heads of the two countries is counter-productive and will be difficult to overcome in the future.

The “Afghan leaders” propped up in Kabul by the US must now be really apprehensive about the US exiting Afghanistan. Soviet puppet Najibullah hanging publicly from an electric pole is not something people forget easily. No wonder Burhanuddin Rabbani, the peacemaker, was assassinated; some people have a vested interest in keeping the conflict going. The overwhelming public perception is that failing to meet its stated goals in Afghanistan, the US is passing the buck onto Pakistan, the ISI being a most convenient scapegoat for all perceived ills in the world even at the best of times. The US diatribe has further aroused public feeling against the US in the drawing rooms and streets of the country, even the most diehard friends of the US are aghast at the allegations made by responsible US officials.

The Haqqani faction of the Afghan Taliban is mostly concentrated in the Paktia and Paktika and later Khost. These fiercest of Afghan fighters are from the Zadran tribe. The Haqqanis only crossed the porous border into the adjacent Pakistani territory after the Soviet invasion; from here they operated against the Soviets with active help from both the CIA and the ISI. Where are the coalition forces bases that should have been formed in this area to “do more” in combating the Haqqanis? While targeting the safe havens of the Haqqanis on our territory, can we risk that the Waziris, who mostly inhabitant North Waziristan become collateral damage? Mostly rural guerrillas, Haqqanis seldom operate in the Afghan towns and cities since their very distinct facial features make them recognisable.

While all intelligence agencies maintain some links with the opposition, there is a vast difference between having contact and actively aiding and abetting terrorism. If it were the Haqqanis who attacked the US embassy in Kabul, they could have only homed onto their targets with active insider help within the city from the many guerrilla factions that have melted into the city’s population.

The Pakistan Army is most reluctant to open up a front against these fierce fighters without “casus belli”. Almost 200,000 of our combat troops are very heavily engaged in Swat, South Waziristan and other Fata agencies, some units have been out in the field for over two years. Pakistan’s available helicopter fleet can hardly support the ongoing operations; moreover our ammunition reserves have been seriously depleted. Going into Haqqani-infested areas will have a blowback that will make our present terrorist-ridden situation seem like a walk in the park, to do so would be illogical bordering on insanity. Time, space and logistics (and public sentiment) are against us at the moment.

Our civilian and military sacrifices compare at a ratio of almost 10:1 to all Afghan civilian and coalition forces put together. The Afghan National Army (ANA) casualties number only a few hundred against our thousands, the less said about them the better. One incongruous thought, why the sudden concentrated diplomatic and media offensive by the US? Is it an amazing coincidence that every time the PPP coalition is in danger of a meltdown, the army and the ISI are put on the block by the US to relieve the existential threat to this inept and corrupt government?

Notwithstanding the rhetoric from the US about attacking Haqqani safe havens in North Waziristan, and Pakistan giving “a suitable reply”, both are nonsense. US “boots on the ground” in Pakistani territory is not a viable option, and not for political reasons alone. The US gameplan is to exit Afghanistan according to an enhanced schedule with the minimum casualties; this will only mean more body bags.

While one can expect escalation of drone attacks, and possibly even cruise missiles and limited air incursions, will the US risk a fire fight with the Haqqanis that could involve the Pakistan Army, and US coffins flying into Dover Air Force Base? One can expect an escalation in the war of words but not direct conflict. On our part, nobody in his right mind would counsel confrontation with the US, that is not an option. One would be stupid to go that route.

The US Congress would do this country the greatest favour if it passes the Bill to cut off aid to Pakistan, this government can than declare freedom! First, we should re-affirm our commitment to continue fighting the war on terror, but on our own terms. Second, we must pull out as many troops as we can from Fata and mobilise the tribal militias as in the past. Third, we must not take any further aid of any kind, economic or military, saddled with conditions. Fourth, we must charge transit fees (and the wear and tear to our infra-structure) at internationally acceptable rates for all goods passing through Pakistani territory.

These fees should be paid at points of entry, and fifth, we must clearly define the parameters of future collaboration with the US in the war on terror, this should include intelligence sharing, drone strikes, overflights, etc. This should spare the US administration from their present discomfort of giving us aid subject to all sorts of intervention by uninformed members of Congress playing to the conservative gallery which believes in bombing all problems into oblivion, and damn the consequences.

What exacerbates the US-Pakistan relationship is that no defined “terms of engagement” exist. This grey area allows each country to push its own agenda with motivated interest, this serves to create festering problems. While we lurch from crisis to crisis the underlying threat of crossing a fail-safe line will not only be detrimental for the US and Pakistan but will have long-term effects on future peace and stability on all the countries of this region. We must define clearly the “terms of engagement” for the future; “out of the box” thinking must remove the rough edges that mar the relationship between us. A well-defined “terms of endearment” will provide for a genuinely productive and meaningful relationship in the future.

Click here to read Sehgal's piece in The News

Rabbani was a controversial choice to head the High Peace Council, which was charged with seeking to negotiate with the Taliban. As president of the country from 1992 to 1996 and briefly again in 2001, he had been a fierce opponent of the Taliban.  However, he proved skillful in managing a broad range of contacts and reaching out to regional and ethnic leaders. Since he was a Tajik, his appointment was particularly symbolic and tricky because he had to deal with the Pahtun-dominated Taliban.  So, too, is the aftermath of his assassination since it has only exacerbated ethnic divisions and convinced many Tajiks, in particular, that there is no point in seeking reconciliation with the Taliban. The opponents of reconciliation are convinced that the Taliban has no interest in genuine power-sharing once most of NATO’s troops withdraw by 2014.

If the peace talks are to have a chance, the Taliban and Pakistan will need to make a clear commitment to participate in them. But so far, the Taliban have not even taken an official position on Rabbani’s assassination. They did deny a media report that they had claimed responsibility for the killing, but have remained studiously vague on whether this was indeed their handiwork. Prior to the assassination, the Taliban launched attacks on NATO headquarters and the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, and they have continued to target top Afghan officials.

The insurgents may believe that their campaign against other Afghan officials is actually strengthening their hand in negotiations, and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar offered a conciliatory statement in his August 28 statement in his Eid-ul-Fitr (end of Ramadan) message , when he called on all ethnic groups to participate in any future settlement. But by any measure, the Rabbani assassination undercut the Taliban’s credibility with most Afghans.

Some officials maintain that the Taliban may be genuinely split on some of these issues, and that more militant factions like the Haqqani network are the most probable culprits in the bloodiest attacks. Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee recently: “The Haqqani network acts as a virtual arm of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency.”  This has prompted angry recriminations from Pakistan and a growing rift in the Washington-Islamabad relationship. 

The reality of the peace process so far is that contacts with the insurgents a have flowed through a variety of channels, not always through the High Peace Council. The U.S. has led much of this effort, but Rabbani’s assassination will only add to Afghan concerns about protecting their interests in any possible deal. One possible next step: with the backing of Washington, a team of Afghan and international representatives would head to direct talks with the Taliban in Pakistan. In such talks, the divisions within the Taliban would have to be dealt with, as well as the tensions between the U.S., Afghanistan and Pakistan.

But whatever efforts are made now to keep the peace process alive, many Afghans have already decided that it has lost its legitimacy. For them, the Rabbani assassination was a clear signal that the Taliban wants to seize power again instead of sharing it in any way. All of which suggests that even if the West manages to broker a deal with the Taliban for a political settlement, it needs to win the backing of the Afghan people. That is difficult to imagine —unless the Afghan people can help determine its terms so that their growing misgivings can be allayed.