US Foreign Policy in Focus: Assessing Dynamics in Iraq & the Broader Region

The School of International Service’s Global Kurdish Initiative for Peace is delighted to host Ambassador Douglas A. Siliman, the President of the Arab Gulf Institute in Washington.

Ambassador Siliman will discuss the US foreign policy towards Iraq and the wider region in light of escalating geopolitical tensions. The conversation will focus on the future of American-Iraqi relationships amid the consolidation of power by pro-Iranian forces in Iraq. Furthermore, it will analyze the positioning of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq within the broader context of American policy and strategic interests. SIS Professor Yerevan Saeed will moderate this conversation, followed by an audience Q&A and a reception featuring enhanced Kurdish culinary offerings.

Bios:

Ambassador Douglas A. Silliman is president of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. He previously served as US Ambassador to Iraq from 2016-19 and US Ambassador to Kuwait from 2014-16. From 2013-14, he served as a senior advisor in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in the US Department of State, working on Iraq issues and the US-Africa Leaders Summit. Silliman was deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Iraq from 2012-13, minister counselor for political affairs in Baghdad from 2011-12, and deputy chief of mission in Ankara, Turkey from 2008-11. He joined the Department of State in 1984.

In addition to his position as president of AGSIW, Silliman also serves on the board of advisors of the Bilateral US-Arab Chamber of Commerce, which helps American businesses expand their international business and trade ties, especially in the Middle East and Gulf region. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Diplomacy. In 2018, Silliman received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award from President Donald J. Trump. He has received numerous awards from the Department of State, including the Secretary’s Award for Public Outreach in 2007 and senior performance awards. Silliman received the Sinclaire Language Award in 1993 and the W. Averell Harriman Award for outstanding junior officer in 1988 from the American Foreign Service Association. He retired from the Foreign Service in April 2019 after 35 years.

Silliman received a Bachelor of Arts in political science, summa cum laude, from Baylor University in Texas, where he was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He earned a Master of Arts in international relations from the George Washington University. Silliman speaks Arabic and French.

Dr. Yerevan Saeed is the Mustafa Barzani Scholar in Residence at American University’s School of International Service and is a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. He is a TEDx speaker and former lecturer at the University of Kurdistan Hewler. Saeed previously was a visiting scholar and research associate at AGSIW.

Saeed is a political analyst who researches and writes on security, political, and energy issues in the Middle East, focusing on Iraq, Turkey, Iran, the Gulf, and the Levant. He has served as White House correspondent for the Kurdish Rudaw TV, and his work has been published in the Washington Institute’s Fikra Forum, the Diplomatic Courier, The New York Times, the London-based Majalla magazine, Rudaw, Global Politician, and several Kurdish newspapers. In addition, he has been interviewed by Voice of America, NPR, CNN, Voice of Russia, and Kurdish television programs and newspapers. From 2009-13, Saeed worked with Stratfor; additionally, he worked for several media outlets, including The New York Times, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, BBC, and The Guardian, as a journalist and translator in Iraq from 2003-07.

Saeed holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, with a focus on Middle East studies and international negotiation and conflict resolution. He received his PhD from the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University. He speaks Kurdish and Arabic and has a command of Farsi.