Philip Merrill College of Journalism | University of Maryland

Ghafoor Lewal Creates New
Afghan Think Tank

Organization analyzes national issues and fosters peace building

**Ghafoor Lewal**

Humphrey alumnus Ghafoor Lewal (Class of 2004-2005) crusades for peace in a volatile region as director of a new state-sponsored think tank in his native Afghanistan.

Last August he organized a seminar to strengthen ties between Afghan and Pakistani Pashtun tribal and political leaders that was opened by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. He is now coordinating a peace conference between Pakistan and Afghanistan in Peshawar that he hopes will finalize practical steps for peace building in in the region.

The job can be dangerous. Lewal leaves his wife, Laila, and their four children at home in Kabul when he travels to meetings. Opponents sometimes call his cell phone with death threats, but Lewal says his work is too important to give up.

“Our center works with peacemaking and conflict resolution in the region,” he said in a phone interview from Afghanistan. “We all suffer from the same problem: religious fundamentalism. We should put aside our problems and our political differences. Right now is the time to work together to fight these dangerous enemies.”

At the behest of President Karzai, Lewal established the Regional Studies Center of Afghanistan in early 2007 to inform government foreign policy on the complex political and tribal relationships of Central Asia, a first for Afghanistan. Lewal, now director of the center, supervises five research institutes that investigate politics, culture, history and economics in Afghanistan and neighboring countries. The center publishes a trilingual quarterly journal and organizes regular conferences with scholars and politicians.

**Lewal (center) at a conference with Pashtun leaders**

The center’s inspiration was the Middle East and Persian studies classes Lewal took as a fellow at the University of Maryland. “We discussed the Middle East’s problems, Iran, Afghanistan and the relationship between the United States and the Islamic world,” he said.

But Lewal’s interest in conflict started long before his time at Maryland. From 1997 to 2001, he reported on human rights in southern Afghanistan for an NGO called the Center for Cooperation of Afghanistan. “That was a tough and dangerous time,” he said. “The Taliban were ruling Afghanistan and were strongly against human rights. I was almost killed several times, but I was proud of my job.” Just before coming to the United States, Lewal was spokesman for Afghanistan’s Constitutional Commission as it shaped the evolving country’s government.

Despite his brushes with death and violence, Lewal is a self-described romantic who “believes deeply in love.” He is best-known in Afghanistan for his seven collections of poetry in Pashto and Dari. Lewal has also published many essays and several books on literary theory. During his Humphrey year, his favorite classes were Professor Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak’s Persian literature and film courses at Maryland. Professor Karimi-Hakkak recalls that Lewal always “had it in mind to get the knowledge that he was after and go back and help his country.”

Lewal remembers he “had a little bit of culture shock” when he arrived in Maryland, his first trip outside Afghanistan. But the form of government he encountered soon fascinated him. “I became familiar with the different institutions and systems in the United States,” he said. “I learned about democratization and a liberal, free society.”

Lewal got an up-close look at the government through meetings organized by the Humphrey program. He became a member of the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., met prominent journalists at CNN and ABC and spoke with U.S. congressman and senators. At a Humphrey Fellowship conference at the state department, Lewal wore an Afghan turban when he met Secretary of State Colin Powell.

**Lewal at work**

Program director Lucinda Fleeson remembers Lewal as a remarkably intelligent and determined student. “When he arrived at pre-academic training in the spring, he didn’t know a word of English,” Fleeson said. “On campus he took intensive English every day for several hours a day. By December he was fluent. By the second semester he was getting As on his papers in English.”

Fleeson says that she is proud of Lewal’s work in Afghanistan. “We’ve had three Afghan fellows in a row,” Fleeson said. “It’s something new for the Humphrey Program and it’s really wonderful. They go back to really influential positions.”

by Kenneth Fletcher, January 2009