Jawed Ludin () is a former Deputy Foreign Minister on Political Affairs of Afghanistan. He was appointed on 2011, by President Hamid Karzai. He was Ambassador of Afghanistan in Canada from 2009 to 2012, and had been spokesperson and later chief of staff to President Karzai.
Early life and education Jawed Ludin was born on March 16, 1973, in Kabul, Afghanistan. He completed his primary and secondary education in Kabul. In 1990, he was admitted to the Faculty of Medical Sciences of Kabul University where he studied general medicine until the summer of 1992 when the university was shut down due to the civil war. Jawed Ludin resumed his studies when he went to exile in London, United Kingdom, 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 a candidate for an LLM degree in Public International Law from the University of Oslo.
Work life Since 1994 Ludin has been involved in humanitarian and development work, conflict resolution, management, media and public relations and politics.
Ludin has worked for a number of international NGOs based in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United Kingdom. From 1994 to 1998, he worked with the Agency Co-ordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR). While he was in the UK, he worked with the British Agencies Afghanistan Group from 1999 until 2001 and British Overseas NGOs for Development from 2001 until 2003.
Ludin's political career started in November 2001 when he took part in organization of the United Nations-sponsored Bonn Conference that laid out the democratic framework for the post-Taliban Afghanistan. In early 2003, he gave up his doctorate studies at the University of London and returned to Afghanistan to take up his first political post as Presidential Spokesman and Director of Communications for President Hamid Karzai's government. He also was spokesperson of Karzai during the 2004 presidential election campaign On June 29, 2005, Ludin 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 January 2007 when he was replaced by Omar Daudzai. The replacement came as Karzai was criticised for not taking strong action against corruption and drug trafficking. The resignation of Ludin was due to political infighting within Karzai's government said senior officials. Much of the blame for Karzai's poor performance has been blamed by Afghans on his staff and cabinet ministers and Ludin appears to have become a victim of the blame game. According to The Times Ludin was forced to resign after attempts to defend Britain led to accusations that he was a British spy. Some of Karzai's closest advisers had accused Britain of conspiring with Pakistan to hand over southern Afghanistan.The Times: Karzai bids for peace in furore with London Ludin submitted his resignation after Karzai had accused Ludin and Afghan Education Minister Hanif Atmar, who both had studied in Britain, of conspiring against him, although Karzai apologized later.
After his resignation, first there was speculation that Ludin would be appointed Ambassador to Egypt, but instead he was appointed as the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Norway, also accredited to Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. On June 3, 2009, Ludin replaced Omar Samad as the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Canada. It is reported that in December 2010 Ludin resigned as ambassador of Canada and went back to Afghanistan.
Academic life 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.
Ludin is fluent in Pashto, Persian and English, and also speaks some French and Hindi.
Personal life Ludin has four daughters, Annahita, Arianne, Avesta and India. In an interview in 2003 he called his work for the Afghan government his "reason for existence," "Somehow I am being useful in my own little corner. I can have a meaningful life in London, but there is no way I can get rid of being an Afghan."
Political views
Northern alliance During the beginning of the War in Afghanistan in 2001, in a series of opinion articles in The Guardian Ludin was critical of the Northern Alliance, stating that it's hard to imagine that the Northern Alliance can be trusted to deliver the country to peace. He stressed the need for the UK and the US to focus on a political strategy, and not only a military strategy. At that time he called a leadership under the former king, Zahir Shah, promising option. A few years later, when he was President Karzai's chief of staff, Ludin defended the appointment of 13 warlords in high positions in the Afghan police: "This is not rearming militias. We would like to strengthen the police presence in districts in the south where there has been a rise in terrorism. Building institutions should not be seen as sidelining any sector of society, especially the mujahideen," he said.
Pakistan As spokesperson of Karzai he urged Pakistan to do more about Taliban and terrorist in the Afghan Pakistan border regionAsia Times: Why the US needs the TalibanDaily Star: Pak FM in Kabul for talks on volatile border, trade and criticised the Pakistani government of beïng soft on terrorism. In the months before the 2005 Parliamentary elections, he warned that the Taliban and Al Qaeda have chosen this time to set a plot in motion and he called for cooperation from Afghanistan's neighborsAl Qaeda behind Afghan violence, officials say "Foreign enemies have been creating problems for Afghanistan over the past 30 years and terrorists come from across the border," said Ludin a week later.
On 23 June 2005, following the arrest of three Pakistani's suspected of planning to murder US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, Ludin attacked Pakistan for not helping enough with the fight against terrorism. He said the plot is just one example of recent violence by Pakistanis or Arab foreigners within Afghanistan. Militants involved in the current battle were trained at camps in Pakistan, Ludin claimed. He demanded immediate action from Islamabad against key leaders of the ousted Taliban regime sheltering in Pakistan and demanded that Pakistan close off its border to prevent the routed militants from fleeing back to a safe haven in Pakistan once again. A few hours later Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf telephoned his Karzai to defuse tensions.
In May 2006 Ludin repeated his allegations. He accused the Pakistani security forces of allowing militants to operate openly in cities such as Quetta, Karachi and Peshawar, as well as the tribal territories. "We have evidence that suicide bombings, roadside bombs and other terrorist actions taking place in Afghanistan emanate from Pakistan and that some Pakistani circles actually provide support for these activities," Ludin said.Times Sunday Times: Allies feud over mutual enemy When the Indian engineer Suryanarayan was killed, Ludin said "There are common enemies who India and Afghanistan have who do not want India here. And when a Taliban commander claimed that the Pakistani secret service ISI had a hand in the killing of Suryanarayan, Ludin was quick to ask an explanation from Islamabad. In 2007 Ludin said again that Afghanistan had long maintained that the Islamic militants operated from within Pakistan.
While being Ambassador in the Nordic countries, Lundin wrote an opinion article in the Guardian in 2008 titled "Take this war into Pakistan." In this article Ludin states that the army of Pakistan has sought to undermine the international effort to stabilise Afghanistan and that it is in Pakistan that terrorism must be defeated. A supreme commander should be appointed to devise and implement an effective counter-terrorism strategy for operations on both sides of the Durand line that separates the two countries.
Towards Iran Ludin has been more kindly in his words. In an article about Iran seeking more influence in Afghanistan Ludin said: "History may prove that overly optimistic, but it is in our interests today to trust our Iranian neighbors and expect the same in return."
Taliban According to Ludin the Karzai government was willing to let former Taliban members play a role in post-war Afghanistan, unless they have blood on their hands. In that case they will be captured as terrorists. But Ludin said that no more than 100 Taliban members worked as terrorist with Al Qaida, and that the Taliban no longer existed as a movement. "People associated with the former Communist regime are back. So are former mujahideen," said Ludin "Therefore, nothing should really stop the Taliban rank and file from taking part in the national life of the country." When Russia said the dividing into 'good' and 'bad' Taliban factions was unacceptable for them, Ludin responded moderate, saying he was hoping that Moscow would clarify its official position. Ludin stated in June 2005 that the terrorist threat in Afghanistan was fragile: "(The guerrillas) are very small compared with the increasing capability of our own forces, compared with the combined capability of the international community that's there to help us and compared to the will of the Afghan people."
In the end of 2009 Ludin stated as Ambassador to Canada that it is "very realistic" to expect a military victory over the Taliban by 2011 when the United States troops pull out of Afghanistan.CRI English: Victory over Taliban by 2011 Possible: Afghan Diplomat But that will depend on how many resources to be put in training the Afghan national forces and preparing the Afghan institutions, he added.
Warlords As spokesperson of President Karzai, Ludin repeatedly warned Afghan warlords that they will be facing sanctions they don't co-operate with the central government. In March 2004 Ludin announced the resignation of Afghan Planning Minister Mohammad Mohaqeq. He claimed that Mohaqeq expressed his desire to be out of the cabinet, but according to Mohaqeq he was illegally dismissed by president Karzai. In April 2004 Ludin said strong words to another important Afghan ethnic leader, Abdul Rashid Dostum. Ludin warned Dostum that, although Dostum was a Karzai adviser, if government investigation showed Dostum had anything to do with the uprising against Faryab Governor Anayatullah Anayat it would be deemed as an unlawful act. However, Ludin wasn't willing to speculate on any action against Dostum. Also other militia leaders who are not working with the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration programme will be brought to Justice, said Ludin.
In July 2004, when army commanders Ata Mohammad, Hazrat Ali and Khan Mohammed Khan were placed in civilian and police post it was, according to Ludin, to ensure that the upcoming presidential election was conducted freely and fairly, though the replacements were a result of careful negotiations.