About Felix and Alex
2009
A graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies (BA Arabic and Persian), Alex first came to Afghanistan six years ago as a tourist, travelling to 28 provinces to learn about the country and improve his Dari and Pashtu language skills.
He worked with Afghan refugees in London at the Afghan Association of London for a year prior to coming out to Afghanistan for the first time, and in Damascus, he worked as a liaison between various Iraqi NGOs based in Syria and their international donors.
In 2006, he founded AfghanWire.com together with Felix Kuehn. The organisation seeks to improve awareness of the wide range of issues and opinions relating to Afghanistan through a newsletter and informational database, both available free to the general public and scholar/policy-maker alike.
He is currently working on three separate projects: a book and PhD at the War Studies Department of King’s College London on the interactions between Sufi groups and militant jihadi organisations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and Somalia; as co-editor of two books written by former Taliban envoy to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, due for publication in early 2010; and an expansive history of southern Afghanistan 1970-2001.
He briefly worked as an Arabic translator for Mideastwire.com, an Arabic-language media-monitor for the Arab world. He has also worked as a freelance journalist from Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon and Somalia. He speaks Arabic, Farsi, Pashtu and German and can get by in French and Dutch.
He lives permanently in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
About Felix
Felix Stats
name Felix Kuehn
location Kandahar, Berlin
job Writer / Researcher
subjects Conflict, Afghanistan
With a long standing interest in conflict regions and tribal societies, Felix travelled to Afghanistan first some 5 years ago. He spent several years in the Middle East including just short of a year in Yemen, where he first learnt the Arabic language in 2002.
He has worked with the Jordanian Red Crescent in Al Ruwashid refugee camp on the Iraqi border (2003) and as a consultant for IWPR (Institute for War and Peace Reporting) and several other organizations in Afghanistan.
In 2006, he founded AfghanWire.com together with Alex Strick van Linschoten. The organization seeks to improve awareness of the wide range of issues and opinions relating to Afghanistan through a newsletter and informational database, both available free to the general public and scholar/policy-maker alike.
He is currently working on a number of separate projects: as co-editor of two books written by former Taliban envoy to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, due for publication in early 2010; and an history of southern Afghanistan 1970-2001 together with Alex Strick van Linschoten.
He speaks Arabic, English and German and can get by in French and Spanish. He hopes to be able to say the same about Pashtu soon.
Felix holds a degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies (BA Arabic and Development Studies), and lives permanently in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Alex Stats
name Alex Strick van Linschoten
location Kandahar, London
job Writer / Researcher
subjects Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Somalia, Religion, History
About Alex
