The Afghanistan Project

The Afghanistan Project represents an effort to ensure the continuity of Afghan academic life in the social sciences following the Taliban takeover in 2021. When the Taliban returned to power after the U.S. withdrawal, Afghanistan faced both a devastating humanitarian crisis and a critical intellectual exodus as scholars, researchers, and policymakers fled their homeland. In response, the response of CGM has done more than provide Afghan scholars with a safe haven—it has worked actively to preserve the intellectual community of Afghanistan in exile, maintaining the vital scholarly networks and research traditions that would otherwise be lost. 

The goal of the project is to preserve and strengthen Afghanistan’s intellectual community while it remains in exile. It operates through three core missions: serving as a premier hub for Afghanistan-focused research and policy analysis; providing a scholarly home through the Afghan Scholars Program, where each researcher is paired with a mentor and supported in their research workshops, conferences, and collaborative projects; and positioning itself as the primary platform for Afghan thought leaders to ensure their perspectives reach global scholars, policymakers, and media outlets. The Afghanistan Project emerged from the Afghan Asylum Project, which mobilized University of Pittsburgh researchers and students to provide critical immigration support to hundreds of Afghans fleeing the Taliban takeover.