U.S. diplomacy's future in Afghanistan and Pakistan to be discussed
10/8/2012
Sean A. Misko, Special Advisor to the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, in the U.S. Department of State, will answer questions about the role of U.S. diplomacy in Afghanistan and Pakistan as he presents the Schreyer Honors College's 18th Annual Mark Luchinsky Memorial Lecture at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 24, in the HUB Auditorium on Penn State's University Park campus.
Misko's lecture, titled "Afghanistan and Pakistan: Does Diplomacy Matter?," will be conducted in a question-and-answer format with Dr. Christian M. M. Brady, dean of the Schreyer Honors College, serving as moderator. Audience members will submit questions on notecards during the lecture or will be able to tweet queries to #shclecture.
Misko is a 2004 Scholar alumnus who graduated with honors in international politics from the College of the Liberal Arts. Most recently, Misko served as a special advisor to the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP) at the U.S. Department of State, part of the team implementing a "diplomatic surge" to facilitate the political settlement of the Afghanistan war. Prior to joining the SRAP office in early 2009, Misko was part of a civilian-military team dispatched to Afghanistan by Gen. David Petraeus to evaluate the deteriorating security situation. The assessment Misko co-authored informed the incoming Obama administration's policy review.
In addition to addressing the U.S. role in Afghanistan as the troop withdrawal nears, Misko will also speak about his career, which has included an appointment to the U.S. State Department's Office of Iranian Affairs, serving as a Roberts Intelligence Fellow and political analyst at the CIA, and consulting with the New York City Policy Department's Counterterrorism Division. Misko, who earned a master's degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, is a recipient of the State Department's Superior Honor Award and the CIA's Exceptional Performance Award .
The lecture is open to the public. For more information, visit shc.psu.edu/events/luchinsky.