Given the scale of international investment in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, the importance of Central Asia cannot be over-emphasised. The region clearly faces significant difficulties, some of which stem from the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the many problems associated with the transition from a command economy and communism to a market economy and democracy. Mr. Eldon will discuss the role that Nato is playing in Afghanistan and the impact on the wider region with the presence of US & Europe in this region. He will also discuss the issues that have led to the polarisation of the Islamic and western worlds and with the change of US administration whether there are prospects of better relations between the two ideologies.

*Stewart Eldon gained a starred First in Electrical Sciences in 1974 at Christ's College, Cambridge . On joining the Diplomatic Service, he was posted to the United Kingdom Mission to the UN. Mr. Eldon served as Deputy Crisis Manager during the 1990-91 Gulf War, for which he was awarded an OBE. In December 1991 he was seconded to the Cabinet Office, and involved in the aftermath of the Maastricht Treaty and the UK EU Presidency in 1992. Mr. Eldon spent 1993/94 on sabbatical at Harvard University . His research paper on the Impact of new Information Systems on Foreign Ministries was published by Chatham House in London . Mr. Eldon was then posted to the UK Delegation to NATO in Brussels . He worked on European Defence, the enlargement of NATO, and the Alliance 's outreach to the East. In September 1997, as FCO Director (Conferences) , he handled the organisation of the four major Summit Conferences held in the UK between October 1997 and June 1998.In September 1998. Mr Eldon was appointed Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York . He was made a CMG in 1999.After leaving the UN in September 2002; Mr. Eldon spent three months at Yale University . His work there on East Timor (on which he was personally involved at the UN) forms part of a book on the UN Security Council published by the International Peace Academy in New York . Mr. Eldon was appointed British Ambassador to Ireland in April 2003. He took up post at NATO in August 2006.

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