Stephen Brooking
'Stephen Brooking'
Stephen Brooking OBE, is a former British diplomat and international civil service, with particular expertise in mediation and post-conflict scenarios. He spent the majority of his working career dealing with Afghanistan, as well as postings in Beijing, Sarajevo, and Bangkok.[1].
Life and Early Career
He was born in London in 1964 and later attended Bristol Grammar School and St Anne's College, Oxford University where he obtained a first class degree in Literae Humaniores. He joined the FCO in 1986 and was first posted as a junior official dealing with Hong Kong Affairs to the Embassy in Beijing, attending the negotiations on the future of Hong Kong and the new airport, and organizing the visit of UK PM John Major in 1991. He was subsequently posted to Sarajevo during the Bosnian War in 1995-1996 working closely with the UN mission, UNPROFOR, headed by UK Generals Mike Rose and Rupert Smith. In 1998 he was posted to the Embassy in Bangkok where he was also attached to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific. In 2001 he was sent as the first UK official into Afghanistan after the attacks of 9/11. He attended the Bonn 2001 Peace talks as Deputy Head of the UK team under Sir Robert Cooper, and then returned to be Political Counsellor and sometimes Chargé d'Affaires in Kabul. Together with Taj Malik he was instrumental in helping the development of Afghan cricket[2]. For his early work in Kabul he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2002[3].
Post FCO
He resigned from the FCO in 2005 and became Country Director in Afghanistan for a private military company, Aegis Defence Services, under Tim Spicer, before switching to work for the United Nations Development Program[4]. He was then asked to work as Special Advisor to the Afghan Interior Minister, Haneef Atmar, and his successor, Bismillah Mohammedi. During this time, Afghan cricket having exceeded his own standard, he helped set up the Afghan Rugby Federation as their Technical Advisor[5].
In 2010 he was then asked to join the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) where he served as head of Policy and Analysis under Staffan Di Mistura and Jan Kubis, before leaving the UN briefly to work in South East Asia. In 2015 he returned to UNAMA to work as acting Chief of Staff for Nicholas 'Fink' Haysom[6] and to take on the role as main interlocutor with the Taliban. He attended the peace talks in Doha during 2019-2021.
He left UNAMA at the end of 2021 and wrote a long paper for the United States Institute of Peace[7]. He then joined the European Institute of Peace as a Senior Advisor[8]
References
- ↑ "Steve Brooking | EIP". European Institute of Peace. Retrieved 01/04/2026. Check date values in:
|access-date=(help) - ↑ Tim, Albone (2011). Out of The Ashes: The Remarkable Rise of Afghan Cricket. London: Virgin Books. ISBN 9780753522479. Search this book on
- ↑ "Afghanistan Honours List". The Guardian. 29 October 2002. Retrieved 10 April 2026.
- ↑ "Aegis Executives Bail Out". Intelligence Online. 10 May 2007. Retrieved 2 April 2026.
- ↑ "Rugby might be a 'natural' for Afghanistan". Stars and Stripes. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
- ↑ "Fink Haysom obituary". The Times. 3 April 2026.
- ↑ "Archived Copy" (PDF). USIP. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 March 2026. Retrieved 9 April 2026.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
- ↑ "EEIP". Retrieved 17 April 2026.
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