Four American presidential administrations. Two decades of war. A fundamental misreading of the geopolitical realities of Afghanistan. A humanitarian crisis as Afghanistan falls into the hands of the Taliban.

As the situation in Afghanistan continues to unfold, it is more important than ever for us to come together as a community.

Robert D. Crews is an historian whose research and teaching interests focus on Afghanistan, Central and South Asia, Russia, Islam, and Global History.  A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he received an MA in History from Columbia University and a PhD degree in History from Princeton University. He is the author of Afghan Modern: The History of a Global Nation (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2015) and  For Prophet and Tsar: Islam and Empire in Russia and Central Asia and co-editor of Under the Drones: Modern Lives in the Afghanistan-Pakistan Borderlands (Harvard University Press, 2012) and The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan (Harvard University Press, 2008). His work has also appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and The New York Times. 

Anila Daulatzai is a 2020-21 Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Anthropology working with Professor Lawrence Cohen.  Dr. Daulatzai's research studies the intersections of the 'War on Drugs' and the 'War on Terror' Pakistan and Afghanistan. Her dissertation is entitled, "War and What Remains: Everyday Life in Contemporary Kabul, Afghanistan".  She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Johns Hopkins University.  She also holds an M.P.H. in International Health from the University of California, Los Angeles as well as an M.A. in Islamic Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles; and a B.S. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of California, Los Angeles.

In collaboration with the South Asia Center and the LLM Program at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

*Please note that because of the fast-paced and quickly unfolding nature of the topics at hand, MEC Rapid Response Events are not recorded.