Mark Sedwill

Mark Philip Sedwill CMG MPhil (born 21 October 1964 in Ealing) was the United Kingdom Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2009–10 and the NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan in 2010.

Early life

He attended Bourne Grammar School in Bourne, Lincolnshire, becoming the Head Boy. He went to the University of St Andrews where he gained a Bachelor of Science (BSc), and later gained an Master of Philosophy (MPhil) from St Edmund Hall, Oxford.

Career

He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1989 and to 1991 he served in the Security Coordination Department and Gulf War Emergency Unit. He was then based in Cairo 1991-4 as a Second Secretary to Egypt, then First Secretary in Iraq from 1996-97 whilst serving as a United Nations weapons inspector, then in Nicosia as First Secretary for Political-Military Affairs and Counterterrorism from 1997-99 in Cyprus. He was the Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Robin Cook and Jack Straw) from 2000-02 in the run up to and preparations for the 2003 Iraq invasion. He was the Deputy High Commissioner to Pakistan, based in Islamabad from 2003-5, then the Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa Department of the Foreign Office and then fom 2006-8 he was then International Director of the UK Border Agency.^[1]

Afghanistan ambassador

In April 2009 he became the Ambassador to Afghanistan, succeeding Sherard Cowper-Coles.

NATO in Afghanistan

Giving an interview for Afghan TV.

In January 2010, he was appointed the NATO Senior Civilian Representative to Afghanistan,^[2][3] to be the civilian counterpart to the ISAF Commander, US General Stanley A. McChrystal and then US General David H. Petraeus. He was succeeded temporarily by his predecessor as ambassador, Sherard Cowper-Coles and then by Sir William Patey, formerly British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Previous Senior Civilian Representatives were Hikmet Cetin (Turkey) (2003–2006), Daan Everts (Netherlands) (see nl:Daan Everts), succeeded by Ambassador Maurits R. Jochems (acting) (The Netherlands) (January-April 2008), and Ambassador Fernando Gentilini of Italy, who served as NATO’s fourth Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan from 2008 to 2010.

Special Representative

On 13 April 2011 it was announced that Sedwill would become UK Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, taking over in early May from Karen Pierce CMG. He will also take up a new position of Director General (Afghanistan and Pakistan) at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Personal life

He married in 1999 and has one daughter. He was appointed CMG in 2008 and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, FRGS.

References

1. ^ "300,000 UK visas 'wrongly issued'". BBC News. 18 November 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7736010.stm. Retrieved 21 May 2011. 
2. ^ "Ambassador Mark Sedwill". NATO. http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-B9D59F8E-F944C3D9/natolive/who_is_who_60924.htm. Retrieved 21 May 2011. 
3. ^ "NATO names Mark Sedwill as Senior Civilian Representative". Foreign & Commonwealth Office. 26 January 2010. http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=News&id=21634872. Retrieved 21 May 2011. 

External links

• Panther's Claw in August 2009
• Strategy in March 2009
• [1]
• [2]

Video clips

• [3]
• ISAF Media March 2010
• Becoming NATO representative in February 2010 (FCO)
• ISAF Media January 2010
• Frontline Club January 2010
• British Satellite News

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Sherard Cowper-Coles	British Ambassador to Afghanistan 2009–10	Succeeded by Sir William Patey

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Ambassador Fernando Gentilini (May 2008 to January 2010)	NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan January 2010 - June 2010	Succeeded by Simon Gass

Persondata
Name	Sedwill, Mark
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	21 October 1964
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death