A Northern Arizona University professor with Afghan roots is slated to hold a lecture on the recent U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and Taliban rule in the country.
Dr. Hakeem Naim, who is Afghan-American, is a history professor and lecturer at NAU. He worked to pull his own siblings from the country during the recent evacuation, according to Dr. Leilah Danielson, NAU’s History Department Chair.
Months before U.S. troops withdrew from the country, Naim appeared on the California-based television program https://vimeo.com/539297715">Rising Up With Sonali to reflect on Biden’s announcement to pull the troops.
"Now the Taliban is coming back to power, they are very strong, and Biden's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan is actually a golden gift to the Taliban,” he told host Sonali Kolhatkar in April of this year.
The International Rescue Committee estimates more than 300,000 Afghan citizens have assisted the U.S. in its occupation over the past two decades. The withdrawal has left thousands of Afghan people in the country, now under Taliban rule. All U.S. military planes departed from Afghanistan days after a suicide bomber killed more than 170 Afghansand 13 U.S. service members.
Naim earned his doctorate at the University of California Davis and served as a lecturer at institutions ranging from the University of California Berkeley to Western Washington University.
The discussion, “Afghanistan: A Tragedy Beyond Taliban and the U.S.,” is scheduled next Wednesday evening at NAU and will be streamed online.
