Contributors

Sagar was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana; his family is from Pune, India, and he has retained a keen interest in Indian and South Asian affairs, history, and politics since his childhood. Sagar graduated with a double BA from Boston College in 2013 in Political Science and Islamic Civilization and Societies, during which time he attended numerous study abroad programs in Kuwait, Israel/Palestine, and India. He also received a prestigious advanced study grant to conduct field research in Haiti, detailing sustainable relief efforts in the post-earthquake environment. Sagar spent over a year living in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, working with a risk consulting firm, the Levantine Group, and studying Arabic.

Sagar was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana; his family is from Pune, India, and he has retained a keen interest in Indian and South Asian affairs, history, and politics since his childhood. Sagar graduated with a double BA from Boston College in 2013 in Political Science and Islamic Civilization and Societies, during which time he attended numerous study abroad programs in Kuwait, Israel/Palestine, and India. He also received a prestigious advanced study grant to conduct field research in Haiti, detailing sustainable relief efforts in the post-earthquake environment. Sagar spent over a year living in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, working with a risk consulting firm, the Levantine Group, and studying Arabic.

Aaron Mannes is a researcher at the University of Maryland’s Laboratory for Computational Cultural Dynamics, a PhD candidate at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, and a co-author of Computational Analysis of Terror Groups: Lashkar-e-Taiba (Springer 2013) as well as numerous popular and scholarly articles on terrorism and international affairs. He can be reached through his website – www.aaronmannes.com.

Dr. Timothy R. Furnish works as an analyst and author specializing in Islamic eschatology, Mahdism and sects. He blogs on these topics at the History News Network as the Occidental Jihadist (http://hnn.us/blogs/78.html) and on his own site www.mahdiwatch.org. His new book, The Caliphate: Threat or Opportunity?, is due out in 2011.

Kamoludin Abdullaev, an independent historian from Tajikistan, has more than forty years of

experience in study and teaching the modern history of Central Asia with a focus on Tajikistan,

Afghanistan, Uzbekistan. Since 1992, Dr. Abdullaev is a policy analyst and independent

consultant in international non-governmental research organizations involved in conflict

resolution, conflict prevention, peace-building, civil society building, and education in Central

Asia. From 1994-2014 he actively participated of the international research exchange programs

in the field of history and social sciences. Awards include: Fulbright Scholar (1994, the George

Washington University and 2005, Allegheny College, PA); Regional Exchange Scholar (1995,

Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, Woodrow Wilson International Center for

Scholars); the British Academy visiting fellow (SOAS, 1996); Visiting scholar at the University

of Toronto (2009); Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace

(USIP) in 2010-2011; Visiting Research Fellow at the Humboldt University of Berlin,

Crossroads Asia (2014) and others. Dr. Abdullaev taught Central Asian subjects from

multidisciplinary perspectives at Yale, the Ohio State University from 2001-2013. He authored

and edited 10 books in English and Russian including Historical Dictionary of Tajikistan. Third

Edition. Lanham-Toronto-Plymouth, UK: The Scarecrow Press Inc., 2018 and Ot Sintsiana do

Khorasana. Iz Istorii Sredneaziatskoi Emigratsii 20 veka. (From Xinjiang to Khurasan. From the

History of the 20 th Century Central Asian Emigration). Dushanbe: Irfon, 2009, as well as over 70

articles in English, Russian, Tajik, and translated into French, Farsi and Japan.

Dr. Abdullaev graduated from the department of history of the Tajik State University and

received his Doctorate from the Institute of the History of the USSR in Moscow in 1983. For

more details go to his page at: kamolkhon.com

Pulat Shozimov is Acting Head and Faculty Development Programme Manager of the Aga Khan Humanities Project (AKHP) at the University of Central Asia (UCA). In 2013, he became a professor of social philosophy. Mr Shozimov is the author of Tadzhikskaia identichnost' i gosudarstvennoe stroitel'stvo v Tadzhikistane ('Tajik Identity and State-Building in Tajikistan'), and one of the editors of Ferghana Valley: The Heart of Central Asia, published in the USA in 2011. He has written more than 80 articles for academic publications, both in Tajikistan and abroad. In 2005, he was a Fulbright Scholar at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C. He was a visiting scholar at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University in 2001, and a visiting scholar at the Catholic University of America in 2008. In 2013, he was a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholar at the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy at the University of Bonn in Germany.

Jonathan Lee is a human terrain analyst for the U.S. government, and a former researcher at the American Foreign Policy Council. His views do not reflect those of the United States government or the Department of Defense.

Cody Retherford joined the American Foreign Policy Council as a Junior Fellow in May 2020. He has conducted research on counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, and state proxy, cyber, and information operations and strategy. He also has a background in market research and geopolitical risk analysis. Cody holds a BA in International Affairs and Middle East Studies. He is currently a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) pursuing an MA in International Economics and International Affairs. Prior to attending SAIS, Cody served as a US Army Officer on active duty for 5 years in light infantry and special operations organizations. He deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel and Operation Resolute Support. He has also supported combat operations against terror groups across the Middle East.

Javid Ahmad is a nonresident fellow with the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center and a senior intelligence manager at iJET International, a risk management firm, where he manages a fifteen-member team of intelligence analysts and provides analytical content and assessments to business and government clients. He is also a senior policy adviser to Afghanistan's minister of finance, focusing on devising policies and strategies on anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism financing issues. Additionally, he is a nonresident fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point, where he researches and publishes on pressing security and counterterrorism issues in South Asia.

Previously, Javid worked on South Asia supporting the Pentagon’s Afghanistan-Pakistan Hands program and the US Naval Postgraduate School. He also worked as a program coordinator for Asia for the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a Washington-based think tank. In addition, he has worked for the NATO HQ in Brussels, the Voice of America, and the Afghan embassy in Washington. He has also worked on governance issues for organizations in Kabul. Javid’s writing has appeared, inter alia, in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, CNN.com, Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, and The Daily Beast. He has a BA in international relations from Beloit College and an MA in security studies from Yale University.

Javid Ahmad is a nonresident fellow with the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center and a senior intelligence manager at iJET International, a risk management firm, where he manages a fifteen-member team of intelligence analysts and provides analytical content and assessments to business and government clients. He is also a senior policy adviser to Afghanistan's minister of finance, focusing on devising policies and strategies on anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism financing issues. Additionally, he is a nonresident fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point, where he researches and publishes on pressing security and counterterrorism issues in South Asia.

Previously, Javid worked on South Asia supporting the Pentagon’s Afghanistan-Pakistan Hands program and the US Naval Postgraduate School. He also worked as a program coordinator for Asia for the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a Washington-based think tank. In addition, he has worked for the NATO HQ in Brussels, the Voice of America, and the Afghan embassy in Washington. He has also worked on governance issues for organizations in Kabul. Javid’s writing has appeared, inter alia, in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, CNN.com, Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, and The Daily Beast. He has a BA in international relations from Beloit College and an MA in security studies from Yale University.

Javid Ahmad is a nonresident fellow with the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center and a senior intelligence manager at iJET International, a risk management firm, where he manages a fifteen-member team of intelligence analysts and provides analytical content and assessments to business and government clients. He is also a senior policy adviser to Afghanistan's minister of finance, focusing on devising policies and strategies on anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism financing issues. Additionally, he is a nonresident fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point, where he researches and publishes on pressing security and counterterrorism issues in South Asia.

Previously, Javid worked on South Asia supporting the Pentagon’s Afghanistan-Pakistan Hands program and the US Naval Postgraduate School. He also worked as a program coordinator for Asia for the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a Washington-based think tank. In addition, he has worked for the NATO HQ in Brussels, the Voice of America, and the Afghan embassy in Washington. He has also worked on governance issues for organizations in Kabul. Javid’s writing has appeared, inter alia, in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, CNN.com, Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, and The Daily Beast. He has a BA in international relations from Beloit College and an MA in security studies from Yale University.

Matt DuPee has studied political and security events in Afghanistan since 1999. His articles have been published in a variety of publications, including the CTC Sentinel, World Politics Review, Himal SouthAsian Magazine, Asia Times, The Center for Conflict and Peace Studies, and others. He holds an M.A. in Regional Security Studies (South Asia) from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, and continues his research on Afghanistan’s narcotics, politics, security, geography and human terrain issues for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Kelsey Lilley is a Manager of Policy and Government Relations with Deloitte. She was previously a Policy Analyst with Yorktown Solutions, a foreign policy and national security strategic advisory firm in Washington, DC, and Associate Director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center, where she coordinated the Council’s Sudan Task Force and led two delegations to Sudan to undertake consultations with government, civil society, and private sector stakeholders. Her expertise is in U.S. foreign and security policy in Africa, with a focus on the political and security dynamics of East Africa. Prior to the Atlantic Council, Kelsey lived and worked in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. She holds an MA in Security Studies from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, which supported her 2018 research on security issues in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, Tanzania, and a BA in Political Science from Davidson College.

Kelsey Lilley is a Manager of Policy and Government Relations with Deloitte. She was previously a Policy Analyst with Yorktown Solutions, a foreign policy and national security strategic advisory firm in Washington, DC, and Associate Director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center, where she coordinated the Council’s Sudan Task Force and led two delegations to Sudan to undertake consultations with government, civil society, and private sector stakeholders. Her expertise is in U.S. foreign and security policy in Africa, with a focus on the political and security dynamics of East Africa. Prior to the Atlantic Council, Kelsey lived and worked in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. She holds an MA in Security Studies from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, which supported her 2018 research on security issues in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, Tanzania, and a BA in Political Science from Davidson College.

Kelsey Lilley is a Manager of Policy and Government Relations with Deloitte. She was previously a Policy Analyst with Yorktown Solutions, a foreign policy and national security strategic advisory firm in Washington, DC, and Associate Director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center, where she coordinated the Council’s Sudan Task Force and led two delegations to Sudan to undertake consultations with government, civil society, and private sector stakeholders. Her expertise is in U.S. foreign and security policy in Africa, with a focus on the political and security dynamics of East Africa. Prior to the Atlantic Council, Kelsey lived and worked in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. She holds an MA in Security Studies from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, which supported her 2018 research on security issues in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, Tanzania, and a BA in Political Science from Davidson College.

A member of Haverford College's faculty since 1960, Glickman was the first director and campus co-ordinator of African Studies, part of the four college Consortium on African Studies, headquartered at University of Pennsylvania. He has served as visiting professor at universities in Tanzania, South Africa, Israel and in several states in the USA. He has authored, and edited and contributed to six books and numerous articles and reviews for a number of scholarly journals in political science and international relations. He is now a Fellow of the Foreign Policy Association, has served as Secretary of the American Political Science Association, and continues to serve as manuscript reviewer and book reviewer for several publishers and scholarly journals. He also consults for several government agencies and non-governmental organization.

Richard Javad Heydarian is a Manila-based academic, having taught political science at Ateneo De Manila University and De La Salle University, Philippines. He is a regular contributor to Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and is the author of, among others, “Asia’s New Battlefield: US, China & the Struggle for Western Pacific” & “Rise of Duterte: A Populist Revolt Against Élite Democracy”. He has written for/or interviewed by Aljazeera English, BBC, Bloomberg, The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Atlantic, South China Morning Post, Nikkei Asia Review, Straits Times, among other leading publications.

Animesh Roul is the Executive Director at Society for the Study of Peace and Conflict, (www.sspconline.org) a Delhi-based policy research think-tank. In his earlier stint he worked as a Research Associate at New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management, which hosts a leading terrorism database on South Asia (www.SATP.org). He holds a Master of Philosophy degree from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and has a master’s degree in Modern Indian History. Mr. Roul specializes in counterterrorism, radical Islam, terror financing, armed conflict and issues relating to arms control and proliferation in South Asia. He has written for Terrorism Monitor, the CTC Sentinel, Jane’s Intelligence Review, Militant Leadership Monitor, and CBW Magazine, among others. He is also serving as executive editor of South Asia Coflict Monitor (SACM), a monthly E-bulletin on armed conflicts and terrorist violence in South Asia.

Don Pathan is a Thailand-based consultant/analyst with more than 20 years of experience in covering diplomacy, international relations, transnational crime and insurgency in mainland Southeast Asia. Pathan has been working closely with The Asia Foundation and the World Bank on development in the conflict affected region in southern Thailand. Pathan briefs the diplomatic community, international think tanks and INGOs on a regular basis on issues pertaining to security in Thailand and the region. Pathan co-wrote a chapter that appeared in “Promoting Conflict or Peace through Identity”, a UN University book published by Ashgate in 2008, and co-authored “Confronting Ghosts: Thailand’s Shapeless Southern Insurgency” with Dr. Joseph Liow. Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia, published the monograph in 2006. Pathan also wrote a chapter in the "Trouble in the Triangle: Opium and Conflict in Burma" in 2005 in which he examine the nexus between the United Wa State Army, the Thai government and the military regime o f Burma/Myanmar. Pathan is also one of the founding member of the Patani Forum, a civil society organization dedicated to promoting critical discussion on the conflict and insurgency in Thailand’s Malay-speaking South He is an associate at Asia Conflict and Security Consulting, Ltd. (ACAS), a Hong Kong-based consultancy that work on the intersect of conflict, development and investment.

Dr. Imtiyaz Yusuf is Assistant Professor, Lecturer and Director of the Center for Buddhist-Muslim Understanding in the College of Religious Studies at Mahidol University in Thailand. He specializes in Religion with a focus on Islam in Thailand and Southeast Asia and also Muslim-Buddhist dialogue. In 2009-2010, he was visiting Associate Professor and Malaysia Chair of Islam in Southeast Asia at ACMCU, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA.

Dr. Yusuf has contributed to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Islamic World (2009); Oxford Dictionary of Islam (2003); Encyclopedia of Qur'an (2002); and Oxford Encyclopedia of Modern Islamic World (1995). He was also the special Editor of The Muslim World - A Special Issue on Islam and Buddhism Vol. 100, Nos 2-3 April/July 2010.

Zachary Abuza is Professor of National Security Studies at the National War College and Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Simmons College. He is the author of four books on politics and security issues in Southeast Asia.

Emmanuel Cohen-Hadria is the Head of the Euro-Mediterranean Policies Department at the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed). With his team, he coordinates the activities of EuroMeSCo, a network of Euro-Mediterranean think tanks, as well as the annual publication of the Mediterranean Yearbook. His main fields of expertise are EU-Mediterranean relations, EU foreign policy and Tunisia. He published a number of articles on the transition in Tunisia as well as on EU-Tunisia relationships. Before joining the IEMed in 2015, Emmanuel Cohen-Hadria worked eight years for the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS). Between 2012 and 2015, he worked in the office of the then Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs of the EEAS, where he was in charge of Mediterranean issues. He graduated from Sciences Po Paris and holds a master’s from the College of Europe/Bruges. He lectures in various universities in Barcelona.

Chloe Thompson is a Research Fellow and Program Officer at the American Foreign Policy Council. She serves as the Managing Editor of the World Almanac of Islamism. Her previous work with AFPC involved research on the military use and strategic implications of unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as militant groups in the Middle East and Latin America. Ms. Thompson joined AFPC in June 2016 after graduating with High Honors from Carnegie Mellon University. She majored in Global Studies and Hispanic Studies, is proficient in Spanish, and is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.

Chloe Thompson is a Research Fellow and Program Officer at the American Foreign Policy Council. She serves as the Managing Editor of the World Almanac of Islamism. Her previous work with AFPC involved research on the military use and strategic implications of unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as militant groups in the Middle East and Latin America. Ms. Thompson joined AFPC in June 2016 after graduating with High Honors from Carnegie Mellon University. She majored in Global Studies and Hispanic Studies, is proficient in Spanish, and is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.

Claire Berlinski joined AFPC as the Senior Fellow for Turkey in March 2012. Ms. Berlinski is a City Journal contributing editor, a freelance investigative journalist, traveler writer, biographer, and novelist who lives in Istanbul. She is the author of Menace in Europe: Why the Continent's Crisis is America's, Too, and There is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters.

Her journalism has been published in The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, First Post, the Oxford International Review, The American, Asia Times, the Globe and Mail, the New York Sun, The Weekly Standard, National Review, Policy Review, Radio Free Europe, World Affairs Journal, among others. She is also author of two spy novels and frequent guest on local and international radio talk shows.

Claire Berlinski joined AFPC as the Senior Fellow for Turkey in March 2012. Ms. Berlinski is a City Journal contributing editor, a freelance investigative journalist, traveler writer, biographer, and novelist who lives in Istanbul. She is the author of Menace in Europe: Why the Continent's Crisis is America's, Too, and There is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters.

Her journalism has been published in The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, First Post, the Oxford International Review, The American, Asia Times, the Globe and Mail, the New York Sun, The Weekly Standard, National Review, Policy Review, Radio Free Europe, World Affairs Journal, among others. She is also author of two spy novels and frequent guest on local and international radio talk shows.

Aaron Mannes is a researcher at the University of Maryland’s Laboratory for Computational Cultural Dynamics, a PhD candidate at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, and a co-author of Computational Analysis of Terror Groups: Lashkar-e-Taiba (Springer 2013) as well as numerous popular and scholarly articles on terrorism and international affairs. He can be reached through his website – www.aaronmannes.com.

Okan Altiparmak is an international consultant on business and political matters located in Istanbul, Turkey. He is the founder of Nimbus Productions, which provides consultation and production services for film production and media companies filming or seeking guidance in Turkey.

Slavomir Horak holds a Ph.D. in International Area Studies at the Institute of International Studies, Charles University in Prague. He currently holds a tenure track position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Russian and East European Studies at the Institute of International Studies, Charlies University in Prague. His research covers political, social, and economic issues in the former USSR, with a focus on Central Asia, particularly Turkmenistan’s domestic issues, as well as its informal politics and state and nation-building.

He is the author of several books on Central Asian and Afghanistan internal developments as well as numerous articles published in Czech, Russian, and English scholarly journals. He has also provided expert consultation for the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bertelsmann Transformation Index, and other companies.

Slavomir Horak holds a Ph.D. in International Area Studies at the Institute of International Studies, Charles University in Prague. He currently holds a tenure track position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Russian and East European Studies at the Institute of International Studies, Charlies University in Prague. His research covers political, social, and economic issues in the former USSR, with a focus on Central Asia, particularly Turkmenistan’s domestic issues, as well as its informal politics and state and nation-building.

He is the author of several books on Central Asian and Afghanistan internal developments as well as numerous articles published in Czech, Russian, and English scholarly journals. He has also provided expert consultation for the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bertelsmann Transformation Index, and other companies.

Slavomir Horak holds a Ph.D. in International Area Studies at the Institute of International Studies, Charles University in Prague. He currently holds a tenure track position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Russian and East European Studies at the Institute of International Studies, Charlies University in Prague. His research covers political, social, and economic issues in the former USSR, with a focus on Central Asia, particularly Turkmenistan’s domestic issues, as well as its informal politics and state and nation-building.

He is the author of several books on Central Asian and Afghanistan internal developments as well as numerous articles published in Czech, Russian, and English scholarly journals. He has also provided expert consultation for the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bertelsmann Transformation Index, and other companies.

Cory Bender is the Program Officer for Central Asia at the Institute for Global Engagement. He received a bachelor’s degree in Russian Studies and Political Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Before coming to IGE, Bender worked at the American Foreign Policy Council, and conducted research on Central Asia at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Political-Military Analysis. He also interned at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, where he coordinated public affairs and consular programs. In 2011, Bender studied abroad at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where he also worked as an Editorial Assistant at the Institute for Public Policy, a Bishkek-based think tank. He studied Russian in Kazan, Russia as a Critical Language Scholar and at Middlebury College, where he was a Kathryn Davis Fellow. He is originally from Chelmsford, Massachusetts and currently resides in Alexandria, Virginia.

Cory Bender is the Program Officer for Central Asia at the Institute for Global Engagement. He received a bachelor’s degree in Russian Studies and Political Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Before coming to IGE, Bender worked at the American Foreign Policy Council, and conducted research on Central Asia at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Political-Military Analysis. He also interned at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, where he coordinated public affairs and consular programs. In 2011, Bender studied abroad at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where he also worked as an Editorial Assistant at the Institute for Public Policy, a Bishkek-based think tank. He studied Russian in Kazan, Russia as a Critical Language Scholar and at Middlebury College, where he was a Kathryn Davis Fellow. He is originally from Chelmsford, Massachusetts and currently resides in Alexandria, Virginia.

Annette Bohr is an Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Institute of International Affairs in London (Chatham House). She is the author or co-author of two monographs and numerous articles on Central Asian politics, contemporary history, and ethnic and language policies.