Event Date: April 5, 2016 - 4:00pm to - 5:30pm
Location: Social Science Building, 120 University pvt, Room 4004
Matthieu Aikins: Schell Fellow, Nation Institute
Presented by CIPS
Free. In English. Registration is not required. Seating is limited and available on a first come, first served basis.
The Taliban’s capture of Kunduz in September marked the first time since 2001 that the group has gained control of a major Afghan city.
Though Afghan and US special operations forces retook the city after two weeks of fighting, Kunduz’s collapse has heightened fears that the Afghan government is losing control of the country in the wake of a drawdown in international forces. Journalist Matthieu Aikins, who visited Kunduz in November, will discuss the challenges facing Afghanistan, as well as the prospects of a renewed US military deployment there.
Matthieu Aikins is the Schell Fellow at the Nation Institute. He has been reporting from South Asia and the Middle East since 2008. His writing has appeared in such US, Canadian, British, and French publications as Harper’s Magazine, Rolling Stone, the New Yorker, the Atlantic, GQ, Newsweek, Wired, the Walrus, the Guardian, the Globe & Mail, Courrier International, and the Caravan. He is a frequent guest commentator and analyst on national radio and television programs, including MSNBC, the BBC, the CBC, and National Public Radio. His work was featured in the anthology The Best American Magazine Writing 2012. He is a two-time finalist for the National Magazine Award in the Reporting category. He received the 2013 Polk Award for magazine reporting, the Medill Medal for Courage, and the Kurt Schork Award for his Rolling Stone article “The A-Team Killings,” which uncovered evidence of war crimes in Afghanistan. In 2010, he won a National Magazine Award in Canada for ‘Best New Creative Talent’ for his article ‘Last Stand in Kandahar’, which appeared on the cover of the November issue of the Walrus. In 2008 and 2009 he also received prizes from the Canadian Association of Journalists and the Atlantic Journalism Awards. Matthieu has a master’s degree in Near Eastern Studies from New York University. His academic interests include the geopolitics of South and Central Asia, and the future of journalism and new media. On the latter subject, he worked with Jay Rosen and the innovative Studio 20 program at NYU. He currently splits his time between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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