Gérard Chaliand is a board member with the Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies in Afghanistan. He is an expert in armed conflict studies and international and strategic relations and has developed theories and systems that explain the workings of asymmetric conflicts. He served as Director of the European Center for the Studies of Conflict in Paris from 1997 to 2000, was “maître de conference” at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration from 1980 to 1989, and served as professor at the Ecole Supérieure de Guerre. Since 1984, he has been a consultant for the Centre d’Analyse et de Prévision of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has completed more than 12 terrain-researches as a war observer in countries like Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Nagorno-Karabakh, Sri Lanka, Chechnya, Peru, Chiapas, and Kurdistan. He is the author of 40 books, 20 of which are translated in English.