In the summer of 2016, I embraced the opportunity to participate in a language-immersion program in Tajikistan through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y). NSLI-Y is one of the U.S. Department of State’s government initiatives to foster international cooperation by ensuring that Americans have the linguistic skills and cultural knowledge necessary to effectively… Read more »
Tag: CentralAsia
Love, Gratitude, and Empowerment: March 8th in Uzbekistan by Shohida Esanova
If you see the men sad, stressfully counting their last money in their pocket, if you see young boys getting sick and missing school, or if your boyfriend breaks up with you for insignificant reasons, you feel that 8th of March is coming. These are some of the jokes associated with one of the biggest,… Read more »
Farewell to Kabul: Afghanistan after the Withdrawal By Dr. Carter Malkasian (Naval Postgraduate School) by Ali Alsmadi
In light of the U.S withdrawal from Afghanistan and the aftermath of a war that lasted two decades, Dr. Carter Malkasian presented on March 3, 2022, a talk about the US’s recent experience in Afghanistan and the lessons drawn from that experience. Dr. Malkasian also discussed his recent book The American War in Afghanistan: A… Read more »
Tajikistan. Roof of the World by Cathy Raymond
This is an excerpt from a story I wrote about hiking in Badakhshan, the mountainous autonomous region of Tajikistan, and my experiences as a Fulbright Scholar in 2018. The full story is published in the Canadian adventure magazine Outpost: The air is cool, and I tighten the cords on my backpack and head into the… Read more »
Islam and Uyghurs by Mike Krautkramer
In 1929, a young Swedish librarian arrived in the Silk Road city of Kashgar. He was there to study a language and a people at the time both called “Turki,” which are now generally referred to as Uyghur. The librarian, Gunnar Jarring, would recount some decades later in his Return to Kashgar (Durham: Duke University… Read more »