Aref Dostyar

Mr. Aref Dostyar is the Consul General of Afghanistan to Western United States based in Los Angeles. Dostyar worked with the Afghan government in different capacities including as Director General for International Relations and Regional Cooperation and Director of Peace and Reconciliation Affairs at the Office of the National Security Council.

In these capacities, he provided regular policy insight to the government leadership and authored several important documents including the National Strategy to Counter Violent Extremism. He coordinated and assisted with numerous government-led initiatives such as Afghanistan-USA Compact; Bilateral Security Commissions with regional countries including India, China, and Uzbekistan; and Working Group on Afghanistan-EU 5-Point Peace Plan.  Aref Dostyar’s articles and op-eds regarding Afghanistan’s peace process have been published by the New York Times, BBC, 8AM, and academic journals in the USA and India. He has degrees from Lucknow University, India and the University of Notre Dame, USA where he attended as a Fulbright Scholar. He tweets from @ArefDostyar