The Annapolis Forum

On February 25th from 6PM to 8PM, the next installment of the Annapolis Forum will take place.

Photojournalist Ben Barber, editor of the United States Agency for International Development magazine Frontlines and Dr. Hayden Bellenoit, United States Naval Academy Assistant Professor of South Asian History, present a discussion on the direction of two of the most vital allies in the war against terrorism—Afghanistan and Pakistan. Are these countries getting the upper hand against Al Qaeda? What is going on in the border region between the two? And will an increase of American troops help or hurt the ongoing effort to capture Osama Bin Laden? Join us for an evening of dialogue, predictions and images—both heartbreaking and uplifting—that you won’t want to miss.

Hayden Bellenoit

Dr Hayden Bellenoit is an Assistant Professor of South Asian history at the US Naval Academy, where he has taught since 2007. Dr Bellenoit studied South Asian history at Oxford University where he received his PhD. He has traveled extensively throughout the Indian subcontinent and has lived in cities such as Delhi, Agra and Lucknow. A specialist on 18th, 19th and 20th century South Asia, Dr Bellenoit teaches courses on modern South Asian history, Islam in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the 20th century in South Asia. He has authored articles in academic journals such as ‘Modern Asian Studies’ and ‘The Indian Economic and Social History Review’, has published a book entitled ‘Missionary education and Empire in late colonial India, 1860-1920′ (London, 2007). On the more contemporary side, he has advised the US Navy and a number of audiences on Pakistani politics, culture, history, Indo-US relations, Af-Pak policy, Afghanistan, and US strategic policy in South Asia.

Ben Barber at Mt. Everest

Ben Barber, B.A. (Trinity College), M.A. (the Sorbonne in Paris) and a former Gannett Fellow in Asian Studies for Journalists at the University of Hawaii, is senior writer for the U.S. Agency for International Development and editorial director of the Agency newspaper FrontLines. He has reported on U.S. aid programs to the Pakistan earthquake region as well as the countries of Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Yemen, Egypt, the West Bank and other areas.  He was Washington Times State Department Bureau Chief from 1994-2002, traveling with the Secretary of State and the President. He covered wars, politics, social issues and economics in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Iran, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and many other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for a series on the Hmong people of Laos. In 1999-2001 he was Adjunct Professor at the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, and at George Mason University, teaching Foreign Reporting and Foreign Policy. He taught seminars and workshops for journalists, editors and publishers in Morocco, Tunisia, Nigeria, Senegal, Ethiopia, and other countries, under U.S. Information Agency grants. He has written on international topics for Foreign Affairs magazine, Salon.com, Legion magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times, the Washington Post, Newsweek, The Toronto Globe and Mail, and many other papers. He was a correspondent for: the London Observer from South and Southeast Asia; USA Today from the Caribbean and Florida; and The Melbourne Sunday Age from Washington. He has been a guest expert on foreign affairs on CNN, MSNBC, C-SPAN,  BBC, Voice of America, French Television and numerous radio stations.

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