Contact:

Lauren Sucher
+1-202-429-3822
lsucher@usip.org

 

(Washington) – The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is pleased to announce the arrival of a staff expert on Pakistan-- an American born in India with decades of South Asia expertise-- and a new Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow-- a Pakistani recently nominated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Dr. Rodney W. Jones is joining USIP's Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention as a Program Officer. Over a career that spans four decades, Jones has experience working for the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the U.S. Department of State, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and has run a consulting firm since 1995. Jones is also a former USIP grantee. His primary policy focus over the years has been on nuclear nonproliferation and arms control, with special emphasis on regional security and proliferation in South Asia. He has done research in the field on internal politics and development in both India and Pakistan, and travels to the region frequently.  Supporting his new position at USIP, he brings a deep understanding of internal politics in Pakistan and its relationships with neighboring countries. Thirty of Jones' publications focus on Pakistan.

Mr. Imtiaz Ali joins the Institute as a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow. Fellows are in residence for ten months while completing a specific project. Ali is working on a book on his native Tribal Belt region of Pakistan (Federally Administered Tribal Area, or FATA), the rise of the Pakistani Taliban, their ties with the Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and their regional and global security implications. He has developed contacts with a variety of leaders in the region over the years covering it for outlets that include the Washington Post, the BBC's Pashto Service, the Daily Telegraph and Dawn (Pakistan's English language daily). The World Economic Forum has just nominated him as a Young Global Leader, which is offered to 200 people under the age of 40 each year.

USIP's president, Ambassador Richard H. Solomon, said, "Pakistan is a country to which U.S. and world leaders are paying close attention, and I am pleased that the Institute is home to these two experts with very different and equally vital expertise. I am confident that Rodney and Imtiaz's work will bring valuable insights to Washington's policymakers, analysts and media, for the benefit of peace and security worldwide."

Jones and Ali join USIP Pakistan experts Qamar ul-Huda and Nina Sughrue, and all are available for interviews.