His Excellency Ambassador Said Tayeb Jawad
Afghan Ambassador to the United States
Embassy of Afghanistan
Washington, D.C.
Ambassador Said T. Jawad serves as Afghanistan's Ambassador to the United States. Under his leadership, the Embassy of Afghanistan is emerging as one of the most successful missions in Washington, DC. He also serves as Afghanistan's non-resident ambassador to Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Mexico.
A fluent speaker of English, French and German, Ambassador Jawad was educated at the Afghan French Lycée Esteqial and School of Law and Political Sciences at Kabul University and later at Westfaelische Wilhelms University in Muenster, Germany. He earned his MBA from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, and subsequently, worked for a number of prominent law firms in the United States.
Ambassador Jawad returned to Afghanistan after 9/11 to assist the country in its state-building process, where he played a versatile and crucial role in the government, serving as Presidential Press Secretary and Chief of Staff and Director of the Office of International Relations. In these positions, Ambassador Jawad formulated strategies, prioritized policies, and assisted in the re-building of national institutions (including the oft-praised Afghan National Army) as well as major reforms throughout Afghanistan, most notably to the Ministry of Defense. At this time, Ambassador Jawad also served as the president's principal liaison for the constitutional commission, throughout the drafting of the Afghan Constitution, and was instrumental in writing Afghanistan’s foreign investment laws.
The ambassador has been equally active in his role as author, addressing issues relating to Afghanistan's politics, social development, and historic heritage. His op-eds and interviews have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, the International Herald Tribune, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, The Guardian, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy. Furthermore, Ambassador Jawad frequently appeared in major international media outlets such as NBC's "Meet the Press," CNN's "The Situation Room", Bloomberg's "Night Talk", the BBC, as well as CBS, MSNBC, Voice of America, Al Jazeera and Germany’s ZDF.
Ambassador Jawad has been invited to speak at many academic institutions including Harvard University, Princeton University, Stanford University, Columbia University, Texas A&M, Johns Hopkins University, the University of California at Berkeley, Georgetown University, the National Defense Intelligence College and National Defense University, as well as universities throughout Europe and Latin America. The ambassador is also a frequent guest at many think tanks and policy centers like the Brookings Institute, the United States Institute of Peace, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Center for American Progress, American Enterprise Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He’s also made numerous appearances before the World Affairs Council in North America.
Awards and honorary degrees granted to Ambassador Jawad include the Constitutional Loya Jirga Service Medal, Government of Afghanistan, 2003; Global Citizen Award, Roots of Peace, Washington, DC, 2008; Honorary Doctorate Degree in Organization Leadership, Argosy University, Washington, DC, 2007; and the Award of Merit for Rebuilding a Nation, ASEE, Washington, DC, 2007.
Ambassador Jawad is married to Shamim Jawad, a financial consultant. They have one son, Iman, who is a student at Tufts University.
Voice of America Profiles A Day in the Life of Ambassador Said Tayeb Jawad (Dari)
