EDITORS: For more information on this event, contact U-M’s Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies at (734) 764-0350.

ANN ARBOR—Anthropology Prof. Nazif Shahrani, director of Indiana University’s Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies department, will be speaking as part of the University of Michigan International Institute’s lecture series titled “Religion, Security and Violence in Global Contexts.” Shahrani, who is the chairperson of IU’s Near Eastern Languages and Cultures department, will provide firsthand knowledge of the subject matter.

Organized by U-M’s Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, the lecture will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday (Dec. 4) in the U-M’s Chemistry Building, Auditorium 1800.

Shahrani, who will assess America’s coalition war on global terrorism in Afghanistan and its chances for success, plans to discuss the reasons behind the rise of Taliban militia and their alliance with Osama bin Laden’s Alqaeda network and other Muslim extremist groups. Specifically, he will focus on the role of the United States and Pakistan, as well as Iran, in the proxy war in Afghanistan after the collapse of the former Soviet Union and communist regime. Shahrani will also discuss the ethnic cum religious politics of the Afghan state and society, which has lent itself to outside manipulations by the globalized world.