Please join the Middle East Institute (MEI) and FRONTLINE | PBS for an in-person screening of the first episode of the newly released investigative documentary series, America and the Taliban, exploring how America's 20-year war in Afghanistan culminated in a Taliban victory. Award-winning correspondent Martin Smith draws on decades of on-the-ground reporting to ask how the U.S. lost the war in Afghanistan, who bears responsibility and what has been the human cost?
Martin Smith will join MEI in person for a Q&A with lulia-Sabina Joja, Project Director of MEI's Afghanistan Watch, to discuss the making of this epic three-part documentary series. Seating is limited, please register now.
Martin Smith
In his 40 years producing and reporting, Martin Smith has covered the world: from revolution in Central America and the fall of communism in Russia, to the rise of Al Qaeda and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Smith was one of the first western reporters to investigate the emergence of Osama bin Laden. In 1998 he founded RAIN Media, an independent documentary company that has produced over 50 hours of programming for FRONTLINE (PBS). Smith's most recent documentaries on the Middle East include Bitter Rivals (2018), The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia (2019), and The Jihadist (2021). He has won every major award in broadcast television, including four duPont Columbia Batons, five Peabody Awards, eight Emmys, four George Polk Awards, and in 2014 was awarded the prestigious Chancellor Award from Columbia University for courage, integrity and cumulative professional accomplishments.
Iulia-Sabina Joja
Iulia-Sabina Joja, PhD, is a senior fellow and director of MEI's Black Sea Program, and project director of "Afghanistan Watch." She teaches European security as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and George Washington University. Her research and teachings focus primarily on European and Black Sea security. Prior, Joja served as an adviser to the Romanian president and as a deputy project manager at NATO Allied Command Transformation in Virginia. She has worked with the Romanian delegation to the United Nations, the European Parliament, and the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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