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Ahmad Majidyar

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Ahmad Khalid Majidyar is a Middle East & South Asia analyst with a focus on Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was previously a senior fellow and the director of IranObserved Project at the Middle East Institute.

From 2008 to 2015, Majidyar worked as a senior research associate at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he co-authored two monographs on Iran: Iranian Influence in the Levant, Egypt, Iraq and Afghanistan (AEI 2012), and The Shi’ites of the Middle East: An Iranian fifth column? (AEI 2014). He also published a number of research papers on Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

As an instructor with the Naval Postgraduate School’s Leadership Development and Education for Sustained Peace program (2008-2016), Majidyar provided graduate-level seminars to more than 3,000 U.S. and NATO military leaders on Afghanistan and the broader region. In addition, he has provided briefings on Iran and Afghanistan at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Joint IED Defeat Organization, the National Defense University, the State Department, and Congress; and he has spoken as a guest analyst at think tanks, universities, and world affairs councils.

Majidyar’s articles on Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan have been published in Foreign Policy, The New York Times, Fareed Zakaria’s GPS, Fox News, U.S. News & World ReportDaily Telegraph, and Forbes, among others. He has also discussed Middle Eastern topics on the BBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera English, Sky News, CBC Canada, Bloomberg News and Voice of America’s Dari, Farsi, Urdu and English services.

Previously, Majidyar worked as a media analyst with the BBC Monitoring in Afghanistan and as a humanitarian aid worker with the UNHCR in Pakistan.

The Latest from Ahmad Majidyar

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Increasing Role of Iran’s Basij Force in Syria War
  • Analysis
  • Increasing Role of Iran’s Basij Force in Syria War

    Hossein Moez-Gholami, an active member of Iran’s Basij Force, was killed in the Syrian governorate of Hama on March 24, the Iranian

    March 29, 2017

    Iran-Backed Militia Group Calls for Collective Action to Reclaim Golan Heights, Destroy Israel
  • Analysis
  • Iran-Backed Militia Group Calls for Collective Action to Reclaim Golan Heights, Destroy Israel

    Over the past six years, Iran has played a key role in propping up the embattled regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, by sending Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) military personnel as well as recruiting, funding, training and leading an extensive network of Iraqi, Lebanese, Pakistani and Afghan Shiite militia forces.

    March 29, 2017

    With ISIS Losing Ground in Mosul, Iran-Backed Militias Turn Attention to Iraqi Rivals
  • Analysis
  • With ISIS Losing Ground in Mosul, Iran-Backed Militias Turn Attention to Iraqi Rivals

    A prominent Iran-backed Iraqi militia commander has warned peshmerga forces loyal to the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to withdraw from the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar and stressed that the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) will not allow any parts of Nineveh Province to be incorporated into the Iraqi

    March 28, 2017

    Kayhan Editor: U.S. and Allies Trying to Weaken Iran's Regime by Empowering "Moderates"
  • Analysis
  • Kayhan Editor: U.S. and Allies Trying to Weaken Iran's Regime by Empowering "Moderates"

    Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor-in-chief of hardline Kayhan newspaper, claims that an assessment of speeches by U.S. politicians at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) this week shows America and its allies are afraid of the Islamic Republic’s power.

    March 28, 2017

    Renewal U.N. Special Rights Rapporteur’s Mandate Unnerves Iran’s Judiciary Chief
  • Analysis
  • Renewal U.N. Special Rights Rapporteur’s Mandate Unnerves Iran’s Judiciary Chief

    Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeqh Larijani has criticized the U.N. Human Rights Council for renewing the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran for another year. “Unfortunately, the United Nations’ human rights bodies have become a tool to pressure independent states,” Larijani said in a meeting with high-ranking judiciary officials in Tehran.

    March 28, 2017

    Arab Leaders Accuse Iran of Sharing Missile Technology with Houthi Rebels in Yemen
  • Analysis
  • Arab Leaders Accuse Iran of Sharing Missile Technology with Houthi Rebels in Yemen

    Major General Ahmed al-Assiri, the spokesperson of the Saudi-led coalition forces, has accused Iran of intensifying and prolonging the Yemeni conflict by supporting Houthi rebels, including sharing missile technology with the militants.

    March 27, 2017

    Iran and Russia Team up with Taliban to Undermine U.S.-led Mission in Afghanistan
  • Analysis
  • Iran and Russia Team up with Taliban to Undermine U.S.-led Mission in Afghanistan

    Afghan and U.S. officials say Iran and Russia have teamed up to undermine the U.S.-led stabilization efforts in Afghanistan by sheltering, training, funding and arming Taliban insurgents. They claim that the two countries have not only expanded their diplomatic engagement with the Taliban leadership, but are also providing advanced weapons to the insurgents that are fighting the Afghan government and the U.S.-led coalition forces in the country.

    March 24, 2017