Join us on our Facebook Page on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 10 am U.S. East Coast Time as we discuss who the Taliban are, how they came to be, and what the current situation with U.S. -Taliban negotiations might portend. Dr. Payind, who is a native of Afghanistan and has been teaching about the region for many years, will offer his insights and share information about the Taliban you won’t find anywhere else. His combination of academic qualifications and life experience uniquely qualifies him to give the cultural, historical, and current social context for recent events. Dr. Payind has seen Afghanistan through many phases: under King Zahir Shah, President Dawud, the ten-year Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the Mujahiddin regime, followed by the Taliban regime, and the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, and subsequent Karzai government. Unlike most political scientists, he has fluency in the languages of the region he studies and literary competence, as well. Dr. Payind served in the Afghan government as the Director General of Cultural and Foreign Relations and was a professor at Kabul University before the Soviet invasion in 1979 forced him to seek refuge in the US. He remains a member of the faculty and offers classes whenever he visits Kabul.