Pakistan & American Diplomacy: Insights from 9/11 to the Afghanistan Endgame

Join us as Ted Craig, a counterterrorism expert and career diplomat who served in U.S. Foreign Service, as he delves into an insightful, fast-moving tour through Pakistan-U.S. relations, from 9/11 to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Craig frames his narrative around the 2019 Cricket World Cup, a contest that saw Pakistan square off against key neighbors and cricketing powers Afghanistan, India, and Bangladesh, and its former colonial ruler, Britain.
Craig's rich, first-person experience offers perceptive analysis of Pakistan’s diplomacy since its independence in 1947, shedding light on the country’s contemporary relations with the United States, China, India, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan. With insights from the field and from Washington, Craig reflects on the chain of policy decisions that led to the fall of the Kabul government in 2021 and offers a sober and balanced view of the consequences of that policy failure. Drawing on his post-Cold War diplomatic career, Craig presents U.S.-Pakistan policy in the context of an American experiment in promoting democracy while also combating terrorism.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ted Craig retired from the Foreign Service in late 2020 after an almost thirty-year career as a Political Officer, serving abroad in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. In March 2023, he began work as a senior advisor on U.S.-funded counterterrorism programs for the State Department Bureau of Counterterrorism, based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Ted served two tours at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, first as Deputy Political Counselor (2010-2011) and then as Political Counselor (2018-2019). Both were momentous years in U.S.-Pakistan relations and contributed significantly to the narratives in his Pakistan and American Diplomacy: Insights from 9/11 to the Afghanistan Endgame (University of Nebraska Press/Potomac Books; 2024). Ted also covered Pakistan as Deputy Director of the Office of Terrorism, Narcotics, and Crime Analysis in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research from 2014-2017, and again from 2021-2023 as terrorism analyst. Originally from Kansas, Ted holds a BA from Colorado College and an MA from Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Presented May 15, 2024, via Zoom, by WorldOregon