In an effort to bring Afghan scholars to UCLA, the Center for Near Eastern Studies is working to raise funds to support several visiting Afghan scholar positions on campus.

Sep. 9, 2021. “[Afghan scholars] are facing tremendous repression and possibly expulsion from universities,” said Center for Near Easern Studies Director Ali Behdad to Los Angeles-based NPR affiliate KCRW. “I think that scholarship and scientific inquiry are, by definition, secular practices.” Behdad is leading the effort to help fund visiting scholar positions for Afghans at UCLA.