Please join us on the second anniversary of the fall of Kabul for the joint launch of The Decline and Fall of Republican Afghanistan by Emeritus Professor William Maley and Ahmad Shuja Jamal and The Sparrows of Kabul by Australian diplomat and artist Fred Smith and for an evening of conversations and musical performances with the authors.

The two books provide the first book-length accounts and analysis of the fall of Kabul, and both are important works to help us interpret Afghanistan’s recent, troubled history. The event will be chaired by HE Wahidullah Waissi, Ambassador of Afghanistan to Australia. In addition to presentations by the authors and others, an audience Q and A facilitated by Leanne Smith (CEO Australian Human Rights Commission), the evening will feature performances from Fred’s acclaimed stage show.

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Professor Colin Grant is Deputy Vice Chancellor (Global), University of New South Wales. Prior to that, he was most recently Vice-Principal at Queen Mary University of London. His expertise is in strategic international partnerships in policy, modern languages, social philosophy, and research and education with universities.

Ahmad Shuja Jamal is a researcher, currently working at Deakin University, and former director-general for international relations for Afghanistan’s National Security Council. Now in exile, he also works as Head of Policy and Advocacy at the Jesuit Refugee Service Australia.

Professor John Juriansz is the Director of the Whitlam Institute within Western Sydney University.

Zainab Khavary is a Law student and, human rights activist. She was a police officer in Afghanistan and due to her activities, she fled the country for her safety in 2013. She wants to fight for all women to be seen and heard.

Emeritus Professor William Maley served as Professor of Diplomacy at the Australian National University and was Foundation Director of the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy. He is currently Vice-President of the Refugee Council of Australia. He has written extensively on and is one of Australia’s leading scholarly experts on Afghanistan.

Iain (‘Fred’) Smith is an Australian diplomat. Working on peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan and the South Pacific, he was the first Australian diplomat to be posted in Uruzgan in Afghanistan in July of 2009. Working alongside Australian soldiers in Uruzgan, Fred's second career as a musician came to the fore, his guitar serving as a bridge not only to the troops, but also to the people and tribal leaders of that war-torn region.

Leanne Smith is the Chief Executive of the Australian Human Rights Commission, an international human rights lawyer, and a former Australian diplomat who served with the United Nations in Afghanistan.

Tahmara Thomas & Zhohal Hashemi are co-founders of the Her Village Foundation.

H.E. Wahidullah Waissi is Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. H.E. Wahidullah Waissi is a career diplomat and Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the Commonwealth of Australia since March 2017. Ambassador Waissi persists in fulfilling his diplomatic responsibilities, operating outside the realm of Taliban influence.

ABOUT THE UNSW & WSU PARTNERSHIP

The UNSW and WSU partnership was established in October 2020. The partnership provides a platform for both universities to leverage their combined expertise and resources in order to extend their reach and maximise their social and economic impact for the Western Sydney region.