Jawed Ludin, Ambassador of in Canada

Jawed Ludin was appointed as Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Canada in May 2009. Prior to this appointment, he served in Oslo, , as Afghanistan’s envoy to the Nordic countries, accredited Norway, , , and (2007-2009), and in as President ’s Chief of Staff (2005-2007).

Ambassador Ludin was born in Kabul on 16 March 1973. He grew up and went to school in Kabul. In 1990, he entered Kabul’s prestigious medical faculty where he studied general medicine until the summer of 1992 when the university was shut down due to the outbreak factional fighting in the country, followed by the Taliban’s oppressive regime in 1996. Jawed Ludin resumed his studies when he went to exile in , , in 1998, studying politics and sociology. In 2002, he earned a Master of Science degree in Political Theory from the University of London. He is currently a candidate for an LLM degree in Public International Law from the University of Oslo.

Jawed Ludin’s work experience stretches back to his first job as an aid work in in 1994 and covers a broad spectrum of humanitarian and development work, conflict resolution, management, media and public relations and politics. He has worked for a number of international non-governmental organizations based in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United Kingdom, including the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (1994-1998), British Agencies Afghanistan Group (1999-2001) and British Overseas NGOs for Development (2001-2003). His roles have varied from provision of humanitarian aid to research, training, management and organizational development.

Mr Ludin’s political career started in November 2001 when he took part in organisation of the -sponsored Bonn Conference that laid out the democratic framework for the post-Taliban Afghanistan. In early 2003, he returned to Afghanistan to take up his first political post as Presidential Spokesman and Director of Communications for President Hamid Karzai’s government. In that role, he set up a modern Communications Department within the Office of the President, and led a vigorous effort to bring the new government closer to the people through open and constructive engagement with free media. In May 2005, he was appointed Chief of Staff of President Hamid Karzai, with responsibility for overall management of the President’s Office and its various organs, and remained in that post until his first Ambassadorial appointment in Norway in early 2007.

Ambassador Ludin has led Afghanistan’s delegations in several important international conferences, including the annual summit of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) in Helsinki (2008), the International Compact Conference on Iraq in Stockholm (2008), the international signing conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo (2009), and has participated in official delegations at several summits of the United Nations General Assembly, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the Non- Aligned Movement, the Organisation of Islamic Conference and the World Economic Forum.

Ambassador Ludin has written extensively on Afghanistan, the region as well as on conflict and development issues, including co-authoring a book on conflict management strategies (Zed Books UK, 2002) and articles and commentary in international publications, notably the Guardian in the UK. He is fluent in Dari, and English, and also speaks some French and Hindi. Ambassador Ludin has two daughters, Annahita, 4, and Arianne, 2.