Oct 04, 2008

On Monday, September the 27th, Ambassador Fernando Gentilini, NATO Senior Civilian Representative and his political advisor Megan Minnion, visited CAPS to meet with the director and staff of CAPS.  The purpose of the meeting was to discuss various topics including NATO’s mission in Afghanistan, the upcoming Afghan elections and security challenges.

Since this was Ambassador Gentilini’s first visit to CAPS, the director Mr. Hekmat Karzai provided an over view of the various training and research projects that CAPS is involved in.  Mr. Karzai in particular focused on the partnership with the Independent Directorate for Local Governance (IDLG) where CAPS has thus far completed six provincial profiles (Maidan Wardak, Logar, Badghis, Faryab, Kapisa and Kandahar).

Ambassador Gentilini mentioned that he is delighted to know that there are Afghan institutions such as CAPS. Ambassador Gentilini also shared his views on the current situation in Afghanistan by stating that, ‘things are actually better than they appear when it comes to security, but it does not mean that there is no serious challenge.’  The Ambassador emphasized on a balanced civil and military approach to deal with the challenges in Afghanistan. He further added that there are gaps between international forces and the population, international forces and the Afghan government, and the central government and provinces in the country that need attention.

Mr. Ahmadzai, Mr. Kousary, Mr. Akbar and Mr. Ghargi joined the Director in the meeting.

Ambassador Gentilini’s biography:

NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan

Ambassador Fernando Gentilini

  • Born in Subiaco (Rome), Italy, 2nd March 1962;
  • Graduated in Law from the University of Rome, 1986;
  • Joined the Italian Diplomatic Service in February 1990; first assigned to Department of Human Resources and Administration, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome;
  • Second Secretary (Economics and Trade) at the Italian Embassy in Addis Ababa(Ethiopia), July 1992;
  • Promoted to First Secretary of Legation, January 1995;
  • First Secretary at the Italian Permanent Representation to the E.U. in Brussels, December 1996;
  • Seconded as Italian Representative within the Policy Planning and Early Warning Unit at the E.U. Council Secretariat, under the authority of the High Representative for the .E.U. Common Foreign and Security Policy, December 1999;
  • Promoted to Counselor of Legation, Rome, July 2000;
  • Posted to MFA’s Department of European Countries as Head of Unit for Western Balkans, Rome, December 2002;
  • Seconded as E.U. High Representative’s Personal Representative to Kosovo, April 2004;
  • Promoted to Counselor of Embassy, July 2004;
  • Seconded to the Policy Unit at the Office of the Secretary General/High Representative for the CFSP in Brussels, December 2004;
  • Seconded to the Presidency of the Council as Deputy Diplomatic Advisor to the Italian Prime Minister, Rome, August 2006;
  • Second Lieutenant (short service) of the Italian Army (Artillery), March 1987;
  • Awarded the Italian Honour, “Cavaliere Ufficiale dell ’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica” in 2006.