Can Pakistan be Converted from a Net Spoiler to a Net Enabler of Afghan Stability?

Laurel Miller

Senior Political Scientist

RAND Corporation

Laurel Miller is a senior foreign policy expert at the RAND Corporation. Until June 2017, she was the acting special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the U.S. Department of State and prior to that principal deputy special representative. At the RAND Corporation from 2009 to 2013, Miller led and participated in national security and foreign policy studies on a wide range of subjects including democratization, conflict resolution, institution-building in weak states, and food security.

Miller has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown. During previous 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. Miller also served as director for western hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council. In addition, she was a senior expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where she focused on constitution-making, rule of law development, and transitional justice.

Earlier, Miller practiced law at Covington & Burling in Washington, DC, and Brussels, and clerked for a U.S. federal judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She has been an international affairs fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations. Prior to her legal training, she was a graduate fellow in India and a reporter in Japan. Miller received her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where she was an editor of the Law Review, and her A.B. from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Linda Robinson

Senior International Policy Researcher

RAND Corporation

Linda Robinson is a senior international policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. Her areas of expertise include irregular warfare, stabilization, and special operations forces. Her current research centers on implementation of the national defense strategy, Pakistan, the Islamic State, and campaign assessment methodology. She has traveled in and written extensively about Afghanistan, Iraq, and Latin America. Her work for the U.S. military includes campaign assessments, operational histories, organizational evaluations, and joint concept development. Her 2018 RAND publications include “Finding the Right Balance: DoD Roles in Stabilization,” “Modern Political Warfare: Current Practices and Possible Responses,” and “Improving the Understanding of Special Operations Forces.” Her trade books include One Hundred Victories: Special Ops and the Future of American Warfare (2013), Tell Me How This Ends (2008), Masters of Chaos (2004) and Intervention or Neglect (1991). She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and previously served on the National Defense University board of visitors and as chair of the Army War College board of visitors. Robinson’s Afghanistan-specific work includes covering the hunt for bin Laden as a journalist, forming and leading an AFPAK SME Cell for US CENTCOM 2009-2011, Pashtun reconciliation in RC-S, a book about VSO/ALP 2011-2013, and research support to SOJTF-A.

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