Robin Raphel

Robin Lynn Raphel (born 1947) is an American career diplomat who is the coordinator for non-military assistance to Pakistan with the rank of ambassador.^[1] She was married to the late ambassador Arnold Lewis Raphel, but they divorced prior to his death in 1988. She was appointed by President Bill Clinton as first Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, a newly created position, where her tenure was highly controversial. Regularly throughout her career, Raphel was described as being "warm" to totalitarian and military regimes, such as the military governments in Pakistan, and conversely "cool" towards human rights considerations.

Education

Robin Raphel received a B.A. in history and economics from the University of Washington. She took graduate courses in history at Cambridge University, not earning a degree, and later earned an M.A. in economics from the University of Maryland. Her foreign languages are French and Urdu.

Career

Raphel began her career as a lecturer in history at Damavand College in Tehran, Iran. She first worked for the United States Government as an economic analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency from 1973 to 1975. She then moved to Islamabad, Pakistan where she worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development as an economic/financial analyst. She then joined the United States Department of State. Upon her return to Washington, D.C. in 1978, Ambassador Raphel worked in the Office of Investment Affairs in the Economic and Business Bureau; on the Israel Desk; Staff Aide for the Assistant Secretary for the Near East and South Asian Affairs Bureau; and as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs. In 1984 she was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in London where she covered Middle East, South Asia and East Asia, and Africa.

She served as Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria (1988–1991), and at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi (1991–1993). In August 1993, she was named the first Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs. Her tenure as Assistant Secretary for Near East and South Asian Affairs was marked by perceived hostility towards India and Afghanistan, and "warmth" towards Pakistan and the Taliban, as was extensively documented by the media. Raphel was hostile towards the Northern Alliance including its leader Ahmed Shah Massoud who she personally pressured to yield to the Taliban.^[2] Raphel openly promoted the complete Taliban takeover of all of Afghanistan, until the September 11 attacks in 2001.^[3]Some scholars believe that her perceived "favoritism" towards Pakistan and the Taliban indirectly, if peripherally, contributed to causing 9/11. One commonly cited factor was her aggressive promotion of Unocal's proposal for the Afghanistan Oil Pipeline, which would have required the defeat of the Northern Alliance. As to U.S. relations with India, the largest and most prosperous state in the region, her tenure was marked as the "darkest chapter since the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971". Upon her dismissal from the Assistant Secretary position by President Clinton and her transfer to the backwater post of Ambassador to Tunisia, U.S. relations with India were reported to have "improved overnight". She also served as a member of the Iraq Reconstruction Team during the George W. Bush administration.^[4] She retired from the state department in 2005 after 30 years of service. She soon became a lobbyist for Pakistan at Cassidy & Associates, a Washington lobbying firm that was employed by the Government of Pakistan at an annual retainer of $1.2 million.^[5][6][7][8]

Raphel has been the senior Vice President at the National Defense University in Washington. The Obama Administration appointed Robin Raphel as a member of the team of the late Richard Holbrooke, the Special Representative to the Af-Pak region.

Recent public speaking

Raphel has been an regarded as an excellent public speaker. On November 13, she address 600 high school students and about 60 dignitaries in Wilmington, Delaware. Photos and videos of her public speaking are available at the following links: ^[9]

Notes and references