Penguin Speakers Bureau

After reporting for National Public Radio in the Balkans, North Africa, and the Middle East, as well as nearer her base in Paris, Sarah Chayes chose to leave journalism in 2002 to help rebuild Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime. She has launched a village-level cooperative in the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, producing fine skin-care products from local fruits, nuts, and botanicals. The aim is to discourage opium production by helping farmers earn a living from licit crops, as well as to encourage collective decision-making processes. From this position, deeply embedded in Kandahar’s everyday life, Ms. Chayes has gained unparalleled insights into a troubled region.

Beginning in 2002, Ms. Chayes served in Kandahar as Field Director for Afghans for Civil Society, a nonprofit organization founded by Qayum Karzai, President Hamid Karzai’s older brother. Under Ms. Chayes’s leadership, ACS rebuilt a village destroyed during the anti-Taliban conflict, launched a successful income-generation project for Kandahar women, launched the most popular radio station in southern Afghanistan, and conducted a number of policy studies. Later, she ran a dairy cooperative.

From 1996, Ms. Chayes was a Paris reporter for NPR. Her work during the Kosovo crisis earned her the 1999 Foreign Press Club and Sigma Delta Chi awards, together with other members of the NPR team. She has also reported from Algeria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Serbia, and Bosnia, and has covered the International War Crimes Tribunal and the European Union. Before that, Ms. Chayes freelanced from Paris for a variety of radio and print outlets. She began her radio career in 1991 at Monitor Radio’s Boston headquarters.

Ms. Chayes is recipient of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ inaugural Ruth Adams Award for writing on strategic issues. She has published op-ed articles in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, and The Toronto Globe and Mail. She is featured in the Sundance/Frontline World documentary Life After War/A House for Haji Baba. She has appeared on NOW with Bill Moyers, The Oprah Winfrey Show (2004 Chutzpah Award), ABC News (Person of the Week), CNN’s Good Morning America, Reliable Sources, and Anderson Cooper 360, as well as NPR’s Fresh Air, Talk of the Nation, and other programs. She has lectured widely, including at the Harvard Kennedy School “Forum,” the National Defense University, the School for Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, and various World Affairs Councils. Her recent book on post-Taliban Afghanistan is called The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban (Penguin Press, August 2006).

Ms. Chayes graduated from Harvard University in 1984, earning the Radcliffe College History Prize. She served in the Peace Corps in Morocco, then returned to Harvard to earn a master’s degree in History and Middle Eastern Studies, specializing in the medieval Islamic period. She was born in Washington, D.C., in 1962. She has three sisters and one brother.

Learn more about this speaker

"The Afghan Divide"
Los Angeles Times

"In Tunisia, How to Build a Democracy"
Los Angeles Times

"Government by Crime Syndicate"
Los Angeles Times

"Kandahar Mayor Killed in Suicide Attack"
PRI's The World

"Taliban Resurgent"
The New York Times

"A Voice in the Afghan Wilderness"
The Washington Post

An Interview with Sarah Chayes
PBS's "Bill Moyers Journal"

"A Conversation with Sarah Chayes"
PBS's "Charlie Rose Show"

"American Activist Finds Her Calling in Afghan Hotspot"
The Boston Globe

"Days of Lies and Roses"
The Boston Globe