Biography

Ben Rowswell, Representative of Canada in Kandahar (RoCK)

Ben Rowswell assumes the position of Representative of Canada in Kandahar (RoCK) following a year as the Deputy Head of Mission for Canada’s Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. As Canada’s senior civilian in southern Afghanistan, Mr. Rowswell leads the Government of Canada’s coordinated diplomatic and reconstruction efforts, in close cooperation with the Canadian Forces and Canada’s international partners.

Mr. Rowswell has served for 16 years as a Foreign Service officer. In that capacity, he founded the Democracy Unit at Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada and served as Canada’s representative in Iraq from 2003 to 2005. He has also had postings in Canada’s Embassy to Egypt and at Canada’s Mission to the United Nations.

Outside the Foreign Service, Mr. Rowswell has worked with the National Democratic Institute in Iraq and as a UN contractor in Somalia. As a policy researcher, he served as a visiting fellow both in the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies and at the Université du Québec à Montréal. In 2007, he co-edited the book Iraq: Preventing a New Generation of Conflict.