About the Author

Lakhdar Brahimi was special representative of the UN secretary general and head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (2001-04), where he led the implementation of the Peace Agreement reached at the Bonn conference, which he had chaired. He also served as the secretary-general's special envoy for Afghanistan from July 1997 until October 1999. Thomas R. Pickering, vice chairman of the international consulting firm Hills and Company, has had a career spanning five decades as a U.S.diplomat, serving as under secretary of state for political affairs and ambassador to the United Nations, Russia, and India, as well as to Israel, Nigeria, Jordan, and El Salvador.