Penguin Speakers Bureau

Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist and author, has been the Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia correspondent for the past twenty years for London’s Daily Telegraph and The Far Eastern Economic Review, until it recently closed down. Rashid also writes for the Lahore, Pakistan newspaper The Nation. He is a regular contributor to BBC Online, The International Herald Tribune, The New York Review of Books and The Washington Post. He has lectured widely around the world on Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central and South Asia.

Rashid is the author of three best-selling books including Taliban, which was translated into twenty-six languages, sold over 1.5 million copies in English alone, and is a course book at 200 American and British universities. His next book, Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia, has been translated into sixteen languages and is also a course book at more than 100 U.S., British, and Japanese universities. Penguin published his latest book, Descent into Chaos: U.S. Policy and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, in June 2008.

Rashid has addressed numerous universities, think tanks, and international meetings around the world and has won many awards in Britain, the U.S., and Pakistan, including the the Nisar Osmani Courage in Journalism Award, given by the Human Rights Society of Pakistan.

Rashid is a member of the advisory board of the Soros Foundation’s EurasiaNet, a scholar of the Davos World Economic Forum, and a consultant for Human Rights Watch. In 2004, he was appointed to the board of advisors to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva.

At the invitation of the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, he became the first journalist to address the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2002 and the first journalist to address NATO ambassadors in Brussels in September 2003.

After the 2001 war in Afghanistan, he donated one third of his book earnings to set up the Open Media Fund for Afghanistan, which has distributed nearly U.S. $400,000 in start-up funds for newspapers and magazines all over Afghanistan in all the Afghan languages.

Ahmed Rashid was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan in 1948, and was educated at Malvern College in England, Government College University, Lahore and at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University. He is married with two children and lives in Lahore.

Learn more about this speaker

Walter Mondale interviews Ahmed Rashid on MPR
Minnesota Public Radio

"What an Israeli attack on Iran will mean for the Muslims"
Haaretz

"Afghan end game sees Pakistan 'paralysed' by US rift"
BBC News

"To Save Pakistan, Author Says U.S. Needs Plan for Afghanistan"
Washington Diplomat

"The Pentagon Echoes with the Hubris of Vietnam"
Financial Times

"Pakistan’s Future: Postcards from the Edge"
The Economist

"Crises collide in Afghanistan"
The Guardian (UK)

"Q&A: Ahmed Rashid on Pakistan’s Many Challenges"
The Wall Street Journal

Pakistan on the Brink Review
The Washington Post

Pakistan on the Brink Review
The Observer (UK)

"New book warns of looming Pakistan anarchy"
Reuters

Interview: Ahmed Rashid on the Road to Reconciliation in Afghanistan
The Asia Society

"The West must strike a deal with the Taliban to end the Afghan war"
Financial Times

Pakistan on the Brink Review
Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

Pakistan on the Brink Review
Publishers Weekly

"Pakistan on the Brink"
The New York Review of Books

"Waking up to the war in Balochistan"
BBC News

"Security vs. Reconciliation: The Afghan Conundrum"
The New York Review of Books

"Interview: Rashid On 'Bad Timing' Of NATO Report On Pakistan And Taliban"
Radio Free Europe

"Pakistan braces itself for 'game changer' elections"
BBC News

"The U.S.-Pakistan Relationship in the Year Ahead"
CTC Sentinel

"Pakistan Urgently Needs Stability"
Financial Times

"Al-Qa’eda’s New War"
The Spectator

"Can Pakistan Step Back from the Brink?"
BBC News

"Afghanistan in 2012: Escalating Violence and a Stampede for the Exit"
Financial Times

"Hope in a Sea of Dictatorship"
The New York Review of Books

"Afghanistan: A New Sectarian War?"
The New York Review of Books

"Madam secretary, only ‘talk’ can save Afghanistan"
Financial Times

"In a sea of Soviet-era failures, one state stands alone"
The National

"Viewpoint: Will meetings solve the Afghan problem?"
BBC News

"Who Are The Haqqanis?"
NPR's Talk of the Nation

"Ten Years of Meltdown in Pakistan"
BBC News

"And Hate Begat Hate"
The New York Times

"Taliban's New Strategy"
The Voice of Russia

"Once Again US Afghan Policy Is Hobbled by Divisions"
Financial Times

"The Endgame in Afghanistan"
TODAY Online

"What the Taliban Want"
The New York Review of Books

"Afghanistan Needs a Break from the Seals"
Financial Times

"The Afghan Enforcer I Knew"
The New York Times

"How the Taliban and America Met in Munich"
Financial Times

"Talks with Taliban Must be Secret to Be Successful"
Globe and Mail

"Afghanistan: Tense times for Delicate US-Taliban Talks"
BBC News

"Ahmed Rashid: Why the US Needs Mullah Omar Alive"
BBC News

"Cry, the Beloved Country"
The New Republic

"Pakistan and al-Qaeda’s Future"
The New York Review of Books

"Now to Break the al-Qaeda Franchise"
Financial Times

"Deepening Military Rift Between the US and Pakistan"
BBC News

"How US Intends to End War with Pakistan"
Financial Times

"Anti-US sentiment is 'rife' in Afghanistan and Pakistan"
BBC News

"Taliban's winter offensive to destabilise region"
BBC News

"How Obama Lost Karzai"
Foreign Policy

"Cairo needs help to avoid al-Qaeda’s grip"
Financial Times

"Extremists exploit Pakistan's political paralysis"
BBC News

"Prospect of Pakistan’s isolation is acute"
The Express Tribune

"Q&A: Ahmed Rashid, Pakistani author"
Business Standard

"Regional settlement only way to peace in S. Asia: Rashid"
The Times of India

"Ahmed Rashid’s lament for a troubled Pakistan"
The Globe and Mail

"Why we should worry about Balochistan"
BBC News

"In the wake of Taseer's murder, moderate Pakistanis must speak out"
The Guardian

"This is the wrong time to punish Pakistan"
Financial Times

"Salmaan Taseer—a fighting tribute"
Daily Times

"Pakistan's Very Unhappy New Year"
BBC News

"The Way Out of Afghanistan"
The New York Review of Books

"Richard Holbrooke, Pakistan's Hero: He Had a Vision For Our Future"
New York Daily News

"Scrounging for Answers in Afghanistan"
The National Interest

"The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers"
Foreign Policy

"How to get the Taliban talking"
BBC News

"Ahmad Rashid ranked 51 among world’s top 100 thinkers"
Daily Times

"Talks are the only route in Afghanistan"
Los Angeles Times

"Tajikistan: The Next Jihadi Stronghold?"
The New York Review of Books

"Why a forlorn Karzai is breaking with the West"
The Financial Times

"Karzai turns against Western allies"
BBC News

"The Road to Kabul Runs Through Kashmir"
Foreign Policy

"Pakistan's troubles start to stack up ominously"
BBC News

"How to fix flood-hit Pakistan"
BBC News

"Pakistani flood relief must start with fighting corruption"
The Washington Post

"The Anarchic Republic of Pakistan""
The National Interest

"Why Europe fears Petraeuss urge to surge"
The Financial Times

"Last Chance for Pakistan"
The New York Review of Books

"Divide Afghanistan at your peril"
Financial Times

"Viewpoint: Throwing the Afghan baby out with bath water"
BBC News

"Only talks with the Taliban can end an unwinnable war"
London Evening Standard

"It is time to rethink the west's Afghan strategy"
Financial Times

"Terror in Pakistan's Punjab Heartland"
The New York Review of Books

"The Times Square Bomber: Home-Grown Hatred?"
The New York Review of Books

"North Waziristan: Terrorism's new hub?"
The Washington Post

"Pakistan faces Taliban resurgence"
BBC News

"Why the U.S. must talk to the Taliban"
The Washington Post

"Making war and peace in Afghanistan"
BBC News

"How to end the war in Afghanistan"
BBC News

"Strong Afghan Taliban might talk: Pakistani analyst"
Reuters

"A Deal with the Taliban?"
The New York Review of Books

"Afghanistan and Pakistan face decisive year"
BBC News

"Advantage: Taliban"
The New York Times

Ahmed Rashid is one of the "Top 100 Global Thinkers"
Foreign Policy

"Pakistan conspiracy theories stifle debate"
BBC News

"How They Convinced Karzai"
The New York Review of Books

"The Pakistan Army's Political Gamble"
The Daily Beast

"Failure in Afghanistan, catastrophe in Pakistan"
Salon

"Who Were the Mumbai Terrorists?"
NPR Weekend Edition

"Will Obama Bring Change To Afghanistan, Pakistan?"
NPR Fresh Air

"A Pakistani Journalists' View Of Afghanistan"
NPR All Things Considered

"Pakistan's extremist triumph"
Los Angeles Times

“Fault lines”
The American Conservative

“Pakistan focuses on Islamic extremism”
Los Angeles Times

“Hot Spots: India and Pakistan”
The Wall Street Journal

"Ascending From Chaos?"
The Majalla

"Afghan crunch time: Obama must decide whether to talk to the Taliban"
The Washington Post

• Ahmed Rashid on The Daily Show: Extended Interview Part 1
• Ahmed Rashid on The Daily Show: Extended Interview Part 2
• Ahmed Rashid on the Rachel Maddow Show