UMass Dartmouth Professor of Islamic History Brian Glyn Williams will give a public Zoom lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 9  titled “Journey into Afghanistan – the real stories and people behind the Taliban Conquest.”

The talk is the latest in the Corsair Chat series.

Williams will highlight the story of Afghanistan through the people he’s met and how their lives are now affected. Williams will also discuss what the future holds for the country based on his extensive travels in Afghanistan and reports from people currently under Taliban rule. Afterward, there will be a question and answer session for both the in-person and livestream crowd.

He has written seven books on warfare, terrorism, and ethnicity in Islamic Eurasia based on his extensive fieldwork in war zones ranging from Kosovo and Bosnia to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Kashmir.  Williams' counter-terrorism work includes tracking Taliban and Al Qaeda suicide bombers for the CIA's Counterterrorism Center and U.S. Army's Information Operations Team in Afghanistan. 

His book, “The Last Warlord: The Life and Legend of Dostum, the Afghan Warrior Who Led US Special Forces to Topple the Taliban Regime,’’ provided much of the material for the movie “12 Strong: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers.’’ Williams is finishing a book on the rise and fall of the ISIS Caliphate which will be informed by fieldwork in the Kurdish lands of Syria.

The event will be livestreamed via Zoom. The event is free and open to the public, but attendees must register.  

To register sign up, visit umassd.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oDdkSo6tQRqkt0NDxx0c3w