Students interested in developing a deeper understanding of the Taliban
and Afghan policies had the opportunity to feed their knowledge at a free lunch
and lecture on Thursday, Sept. 27.
The University of
Oklahoma’s Center for Middle East Studies and the Department of International
and Area Studies brought in Alex Strick van Linschoten, an author and
researcher on Afghan relations, to talk to attendees about his experiences
living and working in Afghanistan.
One of the assignments for IAS 3003.012, a
class about 9/11 and the War on Terror, requires students to attend two guest
lectures made by speakers who have regional expertise on Pakistan and
Afghanistan as policy-makers, researchers and academics, according to Mariam
Mufti, a professor for the Department of International and Area Studies.
Mufti planned the event with the hopes that
students would benefit from Linschoten’s first-hand knowledge on Afghan issues.
“I really want students and the OU community
in general to benefit from the insights of scholars, academics and
policy-makers…It is for this reason that I organized Alex Linschoten’s visit to
OU,” Mufti said.
Linschoten has worked with Afghan refugees in
London at the Afghan Association of London and also as a liaison between
various Iraqi non-governmental organizations based in Syria and their
international donors. In 2006, he co-founded AfghanWire.com, an organization
that seeks to improve awareness of the wide range of issues and opinions
relating to Afghanistan.
“Alex Linschoten has lived in Afghanistan for
several years, and his experience of living there through these troubled times
is an invaluable glimpse on Afghan society and culture,” Mufti said.
The next guest speaker scheduled to discuss
Afghan relations with Professor Mufti’s class is Dr. Robert Lamb from the
Center of Strategic International Studies in Washington, D.C., in November. This
lecture will not be an event open to the public.
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