Laurel Miller Program Director, Asia Washington, D.C. Please submit all media inquiries to lmiller@crisisgroup.org and media@crisisgroup.org or call +32 (0) 2 536 00 71. Crisis Group Role As Director of International Crisis Group’s Asia Program, Laurel leads the organisation’s research, analysis, and policy advocacy about and in the region. She joined Crisis Group in January 2019. Professional Background Prior to joining Crisis Group, Laurel was a senior foreign policy expert at the RAND Corporation, 2017-2018 and 2009-2013. Her research and analysis at RAND covered a wide range of subjects including conflict resolution, democratisation, institution-building, and anti-corruption in countries throughout the world. From 2013 to mid-2017, Laurel was the deputy and then acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the U.S. Department of State. During previous U.S. government service, she was Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, Senior Advisor to the U.S. special envoy for the Balkans, and Deputy to the Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues. She was directly involved in peace negotiations in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Macedonia. Laurel also served as Director for western hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council. Laurel was a senior expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where she focused on constitution-making, rule of law development, and transitional justice. She has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown. Earlier, Laurel practiced law with Covington & Burling in Washington, DC, and Brussels. She was an International Affairs Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. Laurel is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Chicago Law School. Laurel has been widely interviewed including by the BBC, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, NPR, PBS NewsHour, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. She has published commentaries in Foreign Policy, Los Angeles Times, The National Interest, The New York Times, The Washington Post and elsewhere. Select Publications Laurel edited and co-authored an extensive study of constitution-making processes, “Framing the State in Times of Transition” (USIP Press, 2010). Her RAND publications include “Envisioning a Comprehensive Peace Agreement for Afghanistan” (2019), “Democratization in the Arab World” (2012), “Building a More Resilient Haitian State” (2010), and “Overcoming Obstacles to Peace” (2013). In The News 11 Feb 2021 It's unlikely that Rohingya would be willing to return [to Myanmar] in a context in which the repression by the military overall is going up, not down. NPR Laurel Miller Program Director, Asia 8 Oct 2020 It’s very strange indeed to have the president of the United States say something out loud and then have all the rest of us wondering if it really means anything. Washington Post Laurel Miller Program Director, Asia 20 Aug 2020 A U.S. departure from Afghanistan without a peace deal would likely result in a protracted and intensified civil war, in which many Afghans will suffer. Voice of America Laurel Miller Program Director, Asia 24 Mar 2020 Huge slashes of aid would mean the U.S. is no longer seeing the [Afghan] government’s survival as necessary to protect U.S. interests. New York Times Laurel Miller Program Director, Asia 1 Mar 2020 The negotiations among the Afghan parties... will have to tackle much more difficult issues of who gets to wield power in the country and how the government is going to be organized. Los Angeles Times Laurel Miller Program Director, Asia 11 Feb 2020 Looks like U.S.-Taliban deal is imminent. That will be the biggest milestone by far in 10 years of off-and-on efforts to launch an Afghan peace process. VOA Laurel Miller Program Director, Asia Latest Updates Commentary 14 December 2020 Once Upon a Time, There Was a U.S. Foreign Policy Triumph Laurel Miller, our Asia Program Director, draws from her experience of the 1995 Dayton negotiations to highlight key components of a past U.S. foreign policy success. She served in the U.S. State Department under three administrations, most recently as acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Speech / Asia 20 November 2020 Afghanistan's Peace Process Will Be Long, Incremental and in Need of a Mediator Speech by Laurel Miller, Program Director for Asia, at the United Nations Security Council Arria Formula Meeting on the Peace Process in Afghanistan. U.S. Congressional Testimony / United States 10 March 2020 Prospects for Peace: The Way Forward in Afghanistan In this testimony delivered to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Crisis Group's Asia Program Director Laurel Miller analyses the 29 February U.S.-Taliban agreement, assessing its implications for both the U.S. military presence and the larger peace process in Afghanistan. Originally published in U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Op-Ed / Asia 18 February 2020 Will the U.S.-Taliban Deal End the War? The value of the expected agreement between the United States and the Taliban lies in opening the door to an Afghan peace process. Originally published in The New York Times Op-Ed / Asia 17 December 2019 No, we couldn’t win in Afghanistan. But we shouldn’t leave without a peace deal. Even knowing what we now know, a hasty exit isn’t the answer. Originally published in The Washington Post Load more