Afghanistan War Commission

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Staff Biographies

Staff Biographies

Neha Ansari, PhD

SENIOR ANALYST

  • Neha has worked as a journalist and editor in Pakistan for almost a decade, focusing on political violence, war on terror, counterterrorism, and U.S.Pakistan relations.
  • She wrote her PhD dissertation on increasing effectiveness and acceptance of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Area, conducting fieldwork spanning 116 qualitative interviews in northwestern Pakistan. Her findings had implications for the war in Afghanistan and U.S. counterterrorism efforts.
  • Through research fellowships, Neha has conducted research for the State Department, National Defense University, and Sandia National Laboratories. She holds a BA (Honors) and MA from the University of Karachi, Pakistan, and an MA in Law and Diplomacy and a PhD in International Relations from The Fletcher School, Tufts University.

Will Bardenwerper

SENIOR WRITER

  • Will quit his job in finance following the 9/11 attacks in Manhattan and volunteered to serve in the United States Army, where he went on to become an Airborne Ranger qualified infantry officer. Will was awarded a Bronze Star and a Combat Infantryman’s Badge.
  • After completing his Army service, Will worked in the Washington Bureau of The New York Times before enrolling in The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, where he graduated with a Master’s Degree in 2010. Upon graduation, he spent the next four years working on the development and implementation of defense strategy with senior leaders in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
  • His first book The Prisoner in His Palace: Saddam Hussein, His American Guards, and What History Leaves Unsaid was published by Scribner in 2017. He has had Op Eds and feature articles published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Harper’s, Outside, Newsweek, and other outlets. Will is a graduate of Princeton University, where he majored in English. 

Catherine “Kate” Bateman

SENIOR ADVISOR

  • Kate brings more than 17 years of experience as a researcher and policy practitioner, spanning the Department of State, the Department of Defense, Congress, an oversight agency, and think tanks. For more than 10 years, she has worked in and on Afghanistan, including a tour at U.S. Embassy Kabul from 2010 to 2012. 
  • Kate was previously a senior expert on Afghanistan at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), a project lead in the Lessons Learned Program at the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, and a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. She has led major research initiatives on the Afghan conflict, including on U.S. negotiations with the Taliban, anticorruption, women’s rights, and reintegration of ex-combatants.
  • Kate’s published work has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Lawfare, The Hill, Proceedings, and The National Interest, in addition to her work at USIP and a chapter in The Great Power Competition, Volume 4— Lessons Learned in Afghanistan: America’s Longest War (Springer Press, 2023).

Destini Berry

OPERATIONS ASSOCIATE

  • Destini served as an Operations Analyst for two years with the National Commission on Military Aviation and Safety.
  • She brings knowledge of the administrative challenges of running a legislative commission and the experience of overcoming those obstacles.
  • In addition to her time in government service, Destini has a long background in managing the administrative and financial aspects of a private sector medical practice.

Raphael Carland

CHIEF, POLICY AND DIPLOMACY TEAM

  • A career member of the Senior Executive Service with 20 years of experience at the U.S. Department of State, Raphael most recently served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs.
  • He held senior executive and leadership roles at Department of State in the Bureau of Narcotics and Law Enforcement‚ the Office of Foreign Assistance‚ and the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations. Raphael also worked for two Deputy Secretaries of State as a special assistant focused on Afghanistan. He worked on NATO/ISAF coalition coordination issues and was detailed to the Office of the Secretary of Defense to work on counterinsurgency policy. Prior to that he served as a political officer in Afghanistan on Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Uruzgan and Farah.
  • Raphael served as an officer in the U.S. Army and received degrees from Tufts’ Fletcher School and Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.

Elizabeth Nathan Conrad

CHIEF, INTERVIEWS AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT TEAM

  • A detailee from the Institute for Defense Analyses, Elizabeth has experience at the House Armed Services Committee, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and The Cohen Group.
  • A detailee from the Institute for Defense Analyses, Elizabeth has experience at the House Armed Services Committee, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and The Cohen Group.
  • Elizabeth has extensive experience carrying out sensitive, senior-level interviews and consultations in permissive and non-permissive environments. She has an MA from Georgetown University and a BA from the University of Georgia.

Akmal Dawi

SENIOR WRITER

  • Akmal joined the commission from Voice of America, where he served as an editor and journalist since 2012, prior to which he worked for the United Nations and the BBC in Afghanistan.
  • Akmal served as a linguist during the 2019–2020 U.S.-Taliban negotiations in Doha, Qatar. Among other duties, he simultaneously translated the phone call between President Trump and Mullah Baradar in March 2020.
  • Akmal is the author of a Pashto novel about the First Anglo-Afghan War (1838–1842).

Edmund J. “EJ” Degen

CHIEF, MILITARY OPERATIONS AND SECURITY FORCES ASSISTANCE TEAM

  • EJ is a retired career U.S. Army field artillery officer who rose to the rank of colonel and most recently served as the director of the Chief of Staff, Army’s Operation Enduring Freedom Study Group.
  • He commanded artillery units at all levels through the brigade and served as the V Corps (U.S.) chief of plans for the Iraq invasion at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, chief of future operations for U.S. Forces Korea, and chief of staff for Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435 in Afghanistan. He had multiple combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
  • He was a fellow on the Chief of Staff, Army, inaugural Strategic Studies Group and served as the Senior Fellow the following year. He earned an MMAS from the Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies and an MS in Strategic and Operational Planning from the Joint Advanced Warfighting School. He has coauthored two official U.S. Army histories: On Point: The U.S. Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Modern War in an Ancient Land: The U.S. Army in Afghanistan, 2001-2014.

Dan Elinoff

SENIOR ANALYST

  • Dan is a seasoned defense analyst with deep research expertise in U.S. national security policy and infrastructure, security cooperation, security force assistance, and force readiness.
  • He joined the commission from RAND, where he most recently conducted interviews with former high-level security forces assistance practitioners and planners in Afghanistan, as well as an extensive review of government, academic, and nongovernment organization documents regarding international security assistance to the Afghanistan National Defense and Security Forces.
  • Dan is a U.S. Army veteran who deployed to Iraq as a route clearance medic and to Afghanistan as a combat advisor to the Afghan National Army. He holds a BA in International Affairs from George Washington University and a MA in War Studies from King’s College London.

Leah Fiddler

SENIOR ANALYST

  • Leah brings years of executive branch experience: at the Pentagon, the White House, and then the National Security Council across Presidential administrations. She wrote on the President’s behalf to everyday Americans; served in the NSC’s Development, Democracy, and Humanitarian Assistance Directorate; was Chief of Staff of the Transnational Threats Directorate; and supported two Homeland Security Advisors.
  • Prompted by the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, she helped coordinate the Truman Center for National Policy’s Afghanistan Operations Center, which stood up its own airline and, in 2021, evacuated hundreds of at-risk Afghans, many at the U.S. government’s request.
  • Previously, she conducted research for the Comparative Constitutions Project on Afghanistan’s governance challenges. At the Digital Forensic Research Lab, she worked at the intersection of technology and democracy. Her degrees are from the University of Southern California and the University of Chicago.

Rory Gates

ANALYST

  • Rory is currently a PhD candidate at the Institute for World Politics, where he is finishing up a dissertation that analyzes the efficacy of psychological warfare and brainwashing with a focus on Right Wing Extremism in America since the Civil War.
  • Previously, Rory was a policy fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, where he focused on Chinese influence operations in the West Pacific. Before that he worked as an analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency, as an open-source analyst for Advance Democracy, and a research assistant on criminology/ political science.
  • Rory earned his BA in creative writing/political science with honors and his Master’s in International Relations (magna cum laude) from the University of Chicago, where he completed his thesis on international relations theory under the supervision of John Mearsheimer.

Avery Parsons Grayson

ANALYST

  • Avery brings expertise on governance in Islamic contexts, including from her nongovernmental organization work in Indonesia, on the Syria Desk at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ Middle East headquarters, and in the media/think tank space where she worked as a Senior Analyst for International Security at Foreign Policy magazine.
  • At the Overseas Development Institute in London, she implemented the “Lessons for Peace: Afghanistan” program which analyzed lessons learned through the lens of governance and international cooperation. Furthermore, in 2021, she managed The New Arab’s opinion and analysis coverage of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
  • Avery has an MSc in Middle East Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London) and a BA in Global Affairs-International Security from Yale University.

Natalie Hall

SPECIAL ASSISTANT AND ANALYST

  • Natalie is a researcher with experience as a fellow at the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs and a research assistant to Dr. Alexander Cooley (Harriman Institute, Columbia University). Prior to the commission, she contracted for the U.S. government as a senior supply chain risk management analyst at Exiger, specializing on Russia and China. She previously worked as a program coordinator at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Russia and Eurasia Program).
  • Natalie’s publication credits include the Uyghur Human Rights Project, the journal Globalizations, The Diplomat, The Hill, and Newsweek. She has briefed her research and analysis to a number of U.S. government bodies, including the National Security Council, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security. Natalie regularly attends international conferences on Central Asia, Russia, and Ukraine.
  • Natalie lived in Kazakhstan for six months, where she learned about Central Asia’s culture, history, politics, economics, and international relations. She has an MA in Russian and Eurasian Studies from Columbia University with a focus on Central Asia and wrote her thesis on Kazakhstan’s national identity, political mobilization, and state violence. She has a BA in International Affairs with a concentration in Security Policy and minors in History and Slavic Studies from George Washington University.

Jennifer M. Hazen, PhD

SENIOR  ANALYST

  • Jennifer is a senior research analyst with more than 20 years of extensive on-the-ground experience in conflict and post-conflict countries, specializing in conflict dynamics, armed groups, and security sector governance.
  • Previously, she served as a civil-military advisor with the U.S. Agency for International Development; a civil-military advisor embedded in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy for Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict; the director of the Africa Regional Studies program at the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. State Department; a senior advisor and analyst at U.S. Africa Command; a senior researcher at the Small Arms Survey; a political affairs officer at the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Sierra Leone; and an analyst at International Crisis Group.
  • She holds a PhD in International Relations from Georgetown University with research experience in more than a dozen countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Nakissa Jahanbani, PhD

SENIOR ANALYST

  • Nakissa is a former Researcher at the Combating Terrorism Center and Assistant Professor in the Department of Sciences at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where she taught classes on terrorism and conducted policy-oriented, mixed methods research on the Iran Threat Network and terrorist groups, including the Islamic State Khorasan Province. Her work has appeared in various policy outlets, including Lawfare and War on the Rocks, and academic journals, including Terrorism and Political Violence.
  • She obtained her PhD in Political Science from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University of Albany, New York. Her thesis focused on examining the drivers and modalities of state sponsored support for rebel groups.
  • She brings a detailed understanding of jihadist groups and will expertly lead the commission’s substantive work on adversary decision making.

Janna Mantua, PhD

SENIOR ANALYST AND INTERVIEWER

  • Janna is a defense scientist with deep expertise in Special Operations Forces (SOF), irregular warfare, and the “human dimension” of war. Janna most recently served as an embedded senior research analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense–Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation.
  • Janna previously served at the Institute for Defense Analyses, where she was a subject matter expert on several national security studies and led a study team that analyzed materials retrieved from Bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound. Prior to that, she served as a research psychologist at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, where she led a team that focused on SOF performance enhancement. In that role, she deployed to Afghanistan with the 75th Ranger Regiment to assist with Afghan Partner Unit selection.
  • She has a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience and a Master’s in Military Studies. She currently serves as a non-resident fellow at Joint Special Operations University and Chief Operating Officer at the Irregular Warfare Initiative.

Colin McKeague

ANALYST

  • Colin worked at the Archdiocese for the Military Services for almost eight years, where he transformed administrative processing into a highly efficient system and effectively managed proprietary and nonproprietary databases for the Archdiocese.
  • He has extensive experience proofreading and editing document drafts, ensuring accuracy and clarity of the final copy.
  • Colin earned his Master’s in International Security from George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.

Eric Minton

CHIEF, WRITING AND PRODUCTION TEAM

  • Eric has served as the editor, writer, and production manager for three prior commissions: on Military Aviation Safety; on the Future of the Army; and on the Structure of the Air Force. With the Department of Defense’s Vietnam War Commemoration, Eric organized and operated Camp Legacy, a 100-exhibitor display on the National Mall, part of the Commemoration’s May 2023 “Welcome Home” program for Vietnam Veterans.
  • Eric was editor-in-chief of the Reserve Officers Association’s magazine The Officer, a copy editor for the Association of the U.S. Army, and a project manager for the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. 
  • With a BJ from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Eric has 50 years of professional experience in newspapers, magazines, and online. The spouse of a now-retired Air Force officer, he has continually worked as a freelance writer the past 40 years. He also manages Shakespeareances.com, a website dedicated to Shakespeare in performance and pop culture.

Nainika Ashok Paul

ANALYST

  • Prior to the commission, Nainika worked in the Library of Congress–Federal Research Division as a Researcher in the Law and Criminal Justice Section. While there, she worked on literature reviews, reports, and summaries meant for the executive branch, including the State Department, Minority Business Development Administration, and the Library’s internal offices.
  • In 2019, she served as a Harold Rosenthal fellow at the Department of Defense Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Pakistan Desk.
  • She is also a PhD candidate at Rutgers University specializing in Women and Politics and an adjunct lecturer at the University of Maryland Global campus, teaching undergraduate students introductory principles of counterterrorism policy and international relations theory. Nainika earned an MA in Conflict Management and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., where she undertook research efforts in evaluating gender parity in Iraq and examining the possibilities for consociationalism in Afghanistan.

Carmella Saia

ANALYST

  • Carmella joined the commission from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis. Prior to that, she worked on foreign affairs and national security matters at the U.S. Senate.
  • She has an MA in Security Policy Studies from George Washington University and BAs in Political Science and Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution from George Washington University. Her research has focused on rebel governance and recruitment and illicit cyber activity of state and non-state actors.
  • Carmella has also been recognized by several organizations for being a young leader in public service, including the Presidential Management Fellows Program, the National Military Intelligence Foundation, the Security Industry Association’s Women in Security Forum, the Wolcott Foundation, and the International Women of Elliott at the Elliott School of International Affairs.

Harris Samad

SPECIAL ASSISTANT AND ANALYST

  • Harris came to the commission from the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center (SAC) where, as Associate Director, he managed the SAC programmatically and analytically. He led the Center’s Afghanistan research portfolio and was cofounder and lead editor of SouthAsiaSource, SAC’s blog on South Asian affairs that received millions of views per year.
  • His research and interests focus on U.S.-Pakistan relations before and after the fall of Kabul; the tension for U.S. policymakers between country and regional policy in South Asia; and illicit smuggling and financial networks in Afghanistan. Crosscutting these areas is a deep-seated interest in exploring power dynamics that influence international relations from the U.S. policy perspective.
  • Prior, Harris worked at Legacy International, the Embassy of Iraq in Washington, and as a Conflict Resolution Research Assistant at Georgetown University. He has an MA in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University and a BA in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh.

Paul Schaffner

ANALYST

  • Paul brings more than a decade of military and think tank experience working most recently for the RAND Corporation where he served as a policy analyst studying security cooperation, alliance building, and U.S. grand strategy. He has co-authored numerous research reports for senior government officials within the Department of Defense, most notably a report on security cooperation lessons learned from U.S. efforts in Afghanistan.
  • Paul previously served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2009 to 2017 with overseas tours in Afghanistan, East and Southeast Asia, and Europe. He deployed to Helmand Province in 2011 with RCT-8 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
  • He holds a Master’s of International Affairs in International Security Policy from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, a Master’s in International Security from Sciences Po’s Paris School of International Affairs, and a BA in International Development from Portland State University.

Neilesh Shelat

CHIEF, DEVELOPMENT TEAM

  • Neilesh held several senior executive roles at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), including as the Executive Secretary across two Presidential administrations, and within the Bureau of Conflict Prevention and Stabilization and the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance.
  • He served as a Director on the National Security Council, with portfolios that included security sector assistance and stability programming in failed and fragile states. He deployed to Iraq and northeast Syria to advise U.S. and coalition forces on stabilization activities in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.
  • From 2007 to 2011, he deployed to Helmand, Kandahar, Ghazni, Wardak, and Kabul working alongside U.S., Polish, Turkish, and other NATO, and Afghan military forces as part of the Provincial Reconstruction and District Support Teams. He also served as Development Advisor to the Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command.

Luis Vertiz

SENIOR ANALYST

  • Luis joined the commission from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) where he served as a senior policy analyst.
  • His performance audits with SIGAR reviewed topics that included the Afghan military’s management of infrastructure, the use of conditionality in Afghan National Defense and Security Forces development, and the Afghan government’s anticorruption initiatives. He deployed to SIGAR’s office at the U.S. embassy in Kabul for a six-month detail in 2017.
  • Luis has a BA in Political Science with honors in International Security Studies from Stanford University.

Adam Wunische, PhD

SENIOR ANALYST

  • Adam previously served as a military analyst and analytic methodologist with the Central Intelligence Agency covering the Taliban and Afghan Security Forces from 2020 to 2023. He also served with the U.S. Army from 2005 to 2010, completing two deployments to Afghanistan.
  • He completed his PhD from Boston College in 2021 with a dissertation focusing on armed statebuilding operations with case studies on Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, and others. He has been an adjunct instructor at George Washington University since 2019 teaching Military Power and Effectiveness, Political Violence and Terrorism, and Geospatial Conflict Analysis.
  • His research and analysis have appeared in the Armed Conflict Survey, The New Republic, The National Interest, The Washington Quarterly, The Diplomat, and the Journal of Political Science Education.

Katherine Zimmerman

SENIOR ANALYST

  • Katherine, a recognized expert on Salafi-jihadi groups, is a former fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). While at AEI, she also advised the Critical Threats Project, an open-source intelligence research team that she helped develop.
  • She has testified multiple times before Congress about threats to U.S. national security interests emanating from al-Qaeda and its network and briefed members of the U.S. military, diplomatic, and intelligence community at multiple echelons. She has been published extensively on Salafi-jihadi groups and U.S. counterterrorism efforts—including for CNN, CTC Sentinel, Foreign Policy, Journal of National Security Law and Policy, Military Times, PRISM, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.
  • She has a MA in Terrorism, Security, and Society from King’s College London and a BA in Political Science and Modern Middle Eastern Studies from Yale University. She is a term member with the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the RESOLVE Network Research Advisory Council, and serves as a 2024 non-resident fellow at the Irregular Warfare Initiative.