Shamila N. Chaudhary

Shamila N. Chaudhary is a DC-based analyst and writer who specializes in American foreign policy, national security, South Asia, and political risk. She is currently Senior Advisor to Dean Vali Nasr at the School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. She is also a senior South Asia fellow at New America where she specializes in U.S.-Pakistan relations, U.S. national security, and regional issues in South Asia. She worked on Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka at the political risk consulting firm Eurasia Group from 2011-2013. She also has twelve years of experience working in the U.S. government, most recently at the White House as Director for Pakistan and Afghanistan on the National Security Council from 2010-2011. Prior to her work at the NSC, she worked on the Department of State’s Policy Planning Staff, where she advised Secretary Clinton and the late Ambassador Richard Holbrooke on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Chaudhary served on the State Department’s Pakistan Desk from 2007-2009 and covered economic, humanitarian response, and development issues on the Indonesia desk from 2004-2007. She worked on democracy and governance issues at the U.S. Agency for International Development from 2000-2004. Chaudhary was a 1999 David L. Boren National Security Education Program Fellow and studied Urdu in Lahore, Pakistan, as part of her fellowship. She earned an M.A. in International Affairs from the American University’s School of International Service and a B.A. in English Literature and Women’s Studies from the University of Toledo.