Issues

Human Rights Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding Security & Defense

Regions

Afghanistan Indo-Pacific Pakistan South Asia

Languages

Arabic
About Related Content

Events

Online Event Tue, May 11, 2021 • 10:00 am ET

Post-pandemic South Asia: How the COVID-19 pandemic will affect Bangladesh’s politics, economy, and healthcare
Bangladesh Coronavirus Economy & Business Politics & Diplomacy
Online Event Wed, November 25, 2020 • 9:00 am ET

Lessons for Afghanistan from Lebanon’s peace process
Afghanistan Democratic Transitions Human Rights Lebanon

All Content

Illicit Networks-Zaranj

In-Depth Research & Reports

Jul 15, 2020

Strategies for reforming Afghanistan’s illicit networks

By Harris Samad and Fatima Salman

Authored in-house and advised upon by senior fellows Ambassador James B. Cunningham, Ambassador Omar Samad, Marika Theros, Javid Ahmad, and Fatemeh Aman, this report explores illicit networks in Afghanistan in the context of peacebuilding, democratic consolidation, and enhancing state capacity. It concludes by outlining several specific policy recommendations that will be necessary to combat the illicit networks in a manner that supports the durability of the ongoing peace process in Afghanistan and the continued consolidation of its fragile democratic institutions.

Afghanistan Arms Control

Feature

Jul 2, 2020

South Asia midyear pause: Taking stock of 2020

By South Asia Center

The specific events of the year’s first six months might have taken us by surprise but the political-economic dynamics that have shaped South Asia’s response to these new challenges did not. Across the region democracy and freedom of expression are challenged, and protectionist impulses are indulged in flailing response to calamitous economic strife. And the United States continues its slide into strategic irrelevance, exercising little leadership or interest in building stronger ties to this vital region.

Afghanistan Bangladesh

New Atlanticist

Mar 23, 2020

The Afghan Peace Process: Where do we go from here?

By Harris Samad

If the last twenty years teach us anything, it is that we do not have the answers for how best to support a peaceful, prosperous, and democratic Afghanistan. Perhaps it’s because we’ve not been asking the right questions.

Afghanistan Conflict
Load More

Harris Samad was associate director of the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center as well as co-founder and lead editor of SouthAsiaSource, the Center’s blog on US-South Asia and South Asian affairs. His interests and work focus primarily on US-Pakistan relations; the regional geopolitics of Pakistan-Afghanistan relations; illicit finance and smuggling in Afghanistan; civil-military relations in Pakistan; and the role of structural inequalities in conflict in South Asia and the Middle East.

Previously, Harris worked as a conflict resolution fellow at Georgetown University, where he focused on the effects of development assistance on economic and human security outcomes between strategically and non-strategically related allies. He also worked previously at the Embassy of Iraq in Washington, DC as well as with NGO Legacy International.

Harris has an M.A. in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University as well as a B.A. in Political Science, History, and Global Studies in Conflict and Conflict Resolution from the University of Pittsburgh.