Afghanistan Week 2026

Amanullah Mojadidi is a conceptual artist, writer, and researcher. He has exhibited internationally including at the LindenMuseum-Stuttgart, Imperial War Museum-London, Times Square-NYC, 3rd Dhaka Art Summit, 12th Havana Biennale, 3rd Asia Triennial Manchester, 1st Kochi/Muziris Biennale, and dOCUMENTA (13). His publications include The Exhibition in The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Art in Global Asia (2023), The Art of Conflict Chic: Imagined Geographies & the Search for a Post-Orientalist Identity in Conflict & Compassion: A Paradox of Difference in Contemporary Asian Art (2016), Home and What Can One Say About Living in Kabul? in One Story, Thirty Stories: An Anthology of Contemporary Afghan-American Literature (2010), and Humanitarians with Guns: Globalized Rights, Cultural Space, & Militarized Aid in Afghanistan in Challenges and Paths to Global Justice (2007). In 2012, he was selected as a TED Fellow for the subversively critical nature of his artistic practice while living in Kabul and is currently pursuing a PhD in Anthropology exploring how Afghan contemporary artistic practice is inextricably tied to experiences with invasion, occupation, and NGOisation.

Arne Strand has a PhD in Post-war Recovery Studies where he studied coordination of humanitarian assistance in complex emergencies. His research focuses on aid coordination, forced migration and reintegration, peace-building and security sector reform and humanitarian and development assistance. Strand has been team leader of several evaluations and research programmes in and on Afghanistan. He has extensive management experience from NGOs and research institutes, and has also been involved in developing management and professional capacities of Afghan NGOs and peacebuilding organisations.

Aziz Hazara lives and works in Berlin. Hazara is an interdisciplinary artist working across various mediums, including photography, video, sound, and multimedia installations. His work explores themes of surveillance, material culture, and supply chains within the context of power relations, geopolitics, and the panopticon. His work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including To Carry at the 16th Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, UAE (2025); the 18th Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement: A Cosmic Movie Camera at the Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva (2024); Is It Morning for You Yet? at the 58th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh (2022); Penumbra, Venice (2022); the Busan Biennale (2020); and NIRIN at the 22nd Biennale of Sydney (2020). His works are held in the public collections of institutions such as Tate Modern, London; SMAK, Ghent; Guggenheim Abu Dhabi; KNMA, New Delhi; the Sharjah Art Foundation; and the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh.

Cedric de Coning is a Research Professor in the Research Group on Peace, Conflict and Development at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI). His research focuses on how the United Nations and other multilateral institutions can more effectively sustain peace and security, with particular attention to mediation, peace operations and peacebuilding. At NUPI he leads several international research projects on climate, peace and security, on artificial intelligence in peace and security, and on the effectiveness of peace operations. He also contributes to the Training for Peace programme and the UN Peace and Stabilisation Operations project. He is a senior advisor to ACCORD and Editor-in-Chief of the African Journal on Conflict Resolution. As former South African diplomat and UN peacekeeper, he has served in various advisory roles with the African Union and the United Nations, including on the Secretary-General’s Advisory Board for the UN Peacebuilding Fund. 

Ms. Charity Watson is the Climate, Peace and Security Advisor for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. She has worked in Afghanistan for over ten years across politico-security, humanitarian, and environmental issues and before that in East Africa and the Middle East. Her current work focuses on the intersection between climate change, peace and security, fostering dialogue and engagement with Afghan stakeholders on climate and water issues, including the Taliban de facto authorities, supporting regional transboundary water cooperation, and addressing climate security risks and peacebuilding opportunities within Afghanistan. Ms. Watson graduated summa cum laude in International Affairs from the University of Colorado and has a Master’s in Environmental Governance and Policymaking from the Graduate Institute in Geneva.

Claire Buckley is the Ambassador of Ireland to Norway as well as to Iceland on a non-resident basis. She has served as ambassador since 2023. She was previously the Irish ambassador to Sierra Leone and to Liberia, and Guinea. She has held several prominent roles within the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, including Personnel Officer, Deputy Director of the Irish Abroad Unit, and Assistant Chief of Protocol. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Studies from Technological University Dublin. 

Farzana Kochai is a development and humanitarian professional with over 8 years of experience in policy, advocacy, and stakeholder engagement — and a former member of Afghanistan’s National Assembly (Wolesi Jirga), where she was elected at age 26 as one of the youngest parliamentarians at the time. In parliament, she led gender-responsive legislative reform, chaired oversight committees, and mobilised resources for women-led and minority initiatives. She represented the Kochi people — a nomadic minority often excluded from formal politics — and fought to ensure their voices shaped national policy. Since relocating to Norway in 2021, she has completed a Master’s in Global Development Studies at NMBU (2025), interned with the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Global Corporate Relations team, volunteered on humanitarian and developmental issues with local organisations, and continued her advocacy for Afghan women and girls through international media and civil society platforms. 

Francesca Recchia is an independent researcher, educator and writer. She is interested in the geopolitical dimension of heritage and cultural processes in countries in conflict and she focuses on creative practices in contexts of unequal structures of power. Her work is rooted in decoloniality and radical pedagogy. Over the last two decades, Francesca has worked in different capacities in Palestine, Pakistan, India, Kashmir, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan. She was for many years the Acting Director of the Afghan Institute for Arts and Architecture and now is the Head of Advocacy and Communications at the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee.

Hasina Shirzad is an Afghan journalist, researcher and human rights advocate based in Norway. She holds a master’s degree in Journalism from Oslo Metropolitan University and has a background in journalism, research and civil society engagement. Her interests include human rights, freedom of expression, women’s rights and the protection of human rights defenders. She has written and contributed to discussions on human rights and media freedom and has experience moderating public discussions and events.

Ibraheem Bahiss is based in Kabul and draws on over 12 years’ experience studying Afghanistan. He currently works as a Senior Analyst on Afghanistan for the International Crisis Group (ICG), an international organisation providing analysis and advice on preventing, managing and mitigating conflicts across the globe. Since 2013, he has spent extensive time in Afghanistan and since April 2022, he has led ICG’s country office managing its local researchers. He has a Bachelor of Arts (Political Science), a Bachelor of Laws, and a Master of Laws, from the University of Waikato, New Zealand.

Kaja Borchgrevink is a Senior Researcher at PRIO and she takes an interest in religion and development, the politics of aid, and everyday religion among Muslims in Norway – often with a focus on gender and transnational perspectives. Borchgrevink has a background from Development Studies and practical development work in South Asia, and she has studied religious education in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the transnational connections between religious seminaries (madrasas) in the two countries. Earlier research also includes studies of the relationship between civil society and peace building in Afghanistan with a focus on religious groups and networks.

Katja Mielke is a political sociologist and Senior Researcher at Germany’s bicc – Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies where she is currently leading a project on Transregional Processes of (Dis)Entanglements in Afghanistan: Local Perspectives on the BRI. Her research examines the political at the intersection of conflict, migration, and development with a topical focus on state–society relations, local governance, frontier- and resource politics, and a regional focus on South, Central and West Asia. Between 2022 and 2025, she served as a permanent expert member of the German Bundestag’s Enquete Commission “Lessons from Afghanistan for Germany’s Future Networked Engagement.”

Kawoon Khamoosh is an Afghan journalist, documentary filmmaker, and producer who serves as a Senior Broadcast Journalist for the BBC World Service. Based primarily out of London, his work focuses heavily on conflict reporting, and deep-dive investigations into the evolving social and political landscape of Afghanistan. 

Liv Kjølseth is a political scientist, with a postgraduate degree from the University of Oslo, with a specialisation in International Relations. For the past 20 years, she has held the position of Secretary General of the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee (NAC). Prior to joining NAC, she was Information and Advocacy Adviser for the Norwegian Council for the Rights of the Kurdish People. She has previously worked for the Norwegian Directorate for Immigration (UDI).

Mirwais Wardak is a development worker and researcher with almost 25 years of experience working with aid community in Afghanistan. He has worked on projects related to human security, community development, peacebuilding and conflict resolution and civil society development with a number of Afghan NGOs. He is currently working as a freelance consultant.  He has received his MA from Post- War Recovery Unit, The University of York (2005). 

Mustafa Himmati is the Head of Knowledge Management at the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee (NAC), based in Oslo, with over a decade of experience in Afghanistan. His work at NAC has focused on project reviews, evaluations, and research across various sectors. Notably, in the education sector, he contributed to key review initiatives, including the Afghanistan Education Joint-Sector Reviews and the Vulnerability to Corruption Assessment of the Ministry of Education between 2016 and 2019. More recently, he contributed to the NAC’s Faryab School Study (2025), commissioned by the Norwegian Commission on Afghanistan, which assessed the status of schools in Faryab that were financed by Norwegian development assistance between 2006 and 2021. He holds postgraduate degrees on Education from University of Bristol, UK and Indonesia University of Education (UPI), Bandung, Indonesia. 

Nasrin Naimy is a Senior Political Adviser at the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee, responsible for political advocacy and strategic communication directed at Norwegian authorities, the Storting and the media. She regularly takes part in the public debate on Norwegian Afghanistan policy. Nasrin is a political scientist with a bachelor’s degree from Oxford Brookes University and a master’s degree in democracy building from the University of Bergen. She has over ten years of experience in political advocacy and communication from civil society, the private sector and politics, including from Frivillighet Norge, Biogass Norge and Samfunnsbedriftene.

Norunn Grande is a political scientist and special advisor at the Nansen Center for Peace and Dialogue (NCPD). She develops training courses and materials, including handbooks and reports, facilitates dialogue, holds lectures and provides training in Norway and internationally. Norunn Grande has for many years provided trainings and professional support in dialogue and conflict transformation in Afghanistan. She has also worked with diaspora communities in Norway. Norunn Grande is a deputy member of the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee’s (NAC) board.

Orzala Nemat is an Afghan scholar and civil society activist. Dr. Nemat holds PhD in Development studies from School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), MSc from University College London (UCL) and has been a Yale World Fellow class of 2008. As an expert in political ethnography, her research interests include development and conflict, gender, governance and borderlands studies. Her PhD thesis in Development Studies focused on local governance relations that results from external interventions. Dr. Nemat was born, lived and worked in Afghanistan (and for fourteen years in Pakistan as refugee), she experienced different aspect of life in varying environments. Following completion of her doctoral studies and two years of teaching at SOAS (UK), Nemat moved back to her home country, serving briefly as the Afghan president’s advisor on local governance and then leading Afghan Think Tank Afghanistan Research & Evaluation Unit (AREU). 

Rachel Reid is a human rights expert, artist and activist, who writes regularly for the Afghanistan Analysts Network. She has led war crimes investigations, including for the Clooney Justice Foundation, as well as consulting for the UN, ICC, IDLO, the Malala Fund and Front Line Defenders. Rachel spent 8 years at the Open Society Foundation, most recently as the regional advocacy director for the MENA region. She also spent three years based in Kabul with Human Rights Watch, having first moved to Afghanistan as a senior journalist for the BBC, where she worked for 13 years. Rachel has an M.A. in Art and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, and a B.A. in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University, UK. 

Sayed Hussain Anosh is an Afghan human rights defender and the Executive Lead and a founding member of HRD+, an Afghan-led network advocating for human rights, justice and accountability in Afghanistan. He has worked on human rights, civil society and protection of human rights defenders since 2012, including as Executive Director of the Civil Society and Human Rights Network (CSHRN). Anosh has extensive experience in human rights documentation, advocacy and engagement with the United Nations and international human rights mechanisms. He currently works from exile to amplify the voices of Afghan human rights defenders and communities inside Afghanistan.   

Terje Magnussønn Watterdal is an economist, and an education and disability rights activist. He is currently based in Kabul as the Country Director for the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee (NAC). He has previously worked as education advisor for governments in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and senior expert for different UN agencies in Afghanistan and elsewhere in Asia. He holds postgraduate degrees from University of Mannheim, Germany and University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Torunn Wimpelmann is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) where she is currently researching the relationships between law, religion and  Afghan gender politics and activism. She is the author of, The Pitfalls of Protection: Gender, Violence and Power in Afghanistan (University of California Press, 2017). Between 2014 and 2016 she served as an member of the government-appointed Commission of Inquiry into Norway’s engagement in Afghanistan. She is currently a member of the expert group to the inquiry on Denmarks engagement in Afghanistan.

Zuhra Bahman is a feminist peacebuilder and a social entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience advancing peace, gender equality, and civil society in Afghanistan and internationally. She currently serves as Country Director for Search for Common Ground Afghanistan, where she leads one of the organisation’s largest country programmes, working with a nationwide network of civil society organisations and local partners to strengthen social cohesion, inclusive governance, and locally led peacebuilding. Throughout her career, Zuhra has held leadership and advisory roles with Search for Common Ground, UN Women, the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), the British Red Cross, ECPAT UK, the Government of Afghanistan, and numerous Afghan civil society organisations. Her work has focused on peace processes, women’s rights, conflict-sensitive programming, and strengthening civil society in some of the world’s most complex operating environments. She has also lectured at universities in Afghanistan, the United Kingdom, and Canada and has written independently on various aspects of peace building. Zuhra is the founder of She Makes Afghanistan, a social enterprise that connects Afghan women artisans and producers with international markets. Zuhra holds a BA in Anthropology and Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science, an MA in Conflict, Security and Development from King’s College London, and an MRes in Anthropology from University College London.