Dr. Rubin is one of the world’s foremost experts on Afghanistan and the surrounding region, as well as on conflict prevention and peace building. Currently director of studies and senior fellow at New York University, Dr. Rubin served as special adviser to the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Afghanistan during the negotiations that produced the Bonn Agreement and contributed to developing the Afghanistan National Development Strategy. He is currently an investor in Gulestan, a nascent firm exporting rose and other essences from Afghanistan. During 1994-2000, Dr. Rubin was director of the Center for Preventive Action, and director of peace and conflict studies, at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He was associate professor of political science and director of the Center for the Study of Central Asia at Columbia University from 1990 to 1996. Previously, he was a Jennings Randolph peace fellow at the United States Institute of Peace and assistant professor of political science at Yale University. Dr. Rubin is deputy chair of the Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum, a member of the steering committee of Human Rights Watch/ Europe and Central Asia, the executive board of Human Rights Watch/Asia, the board of the Open Society Institute’s Central Eurasia Project, the conseil scientifique of the Fondation Médecins Sans Frontières, and the board of the International League for Human Rights. He is the author of several books and numerous articles on conflict prevention, state formation, and human rights. He received a Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.A. from Yale University.