Graeme Smith is a senior consultant for Crisis Group’s Asia Program, focusing on Afghanistan. He assists in developing the research agenda and shaping the analysis and reporting on the Afghan conflict and its regional dimensions, as well as contributing to research projects on the humanitarian and economic consequences of the Taliban takeover.

Graeme Smith is an author and consultant with nine years of on-the-ground experience in Afghanistan since 2005. His recent clients included the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution (NOREF) and the International Crisis Group (ICG). From 2015 to 2018, he served as a Political Affairs Officer for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, with responsibility for domestic politics. He previously worked as the Crisis Group country director in Afghanistan (2012-2015). His career as a journalist included more than a decade as a staff reporter for The Globe and Mail, which posted him in Moscow (2005), Kandahar (2006-2009), Delhi (2010) and Istanbul (2011). He taught politics at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. His awards include the Michener Award for public service granted annually by the governor general of Canada. He also won an Emmy Award in 2009, for a video series that recorded the opinions of Taliban fighters. His bestselling book, The Dogs Are Eating Them Now: Our War In Afghanistan, was published in Canada (2013), the United States (2014) and France (2015). He co-wrote and presented a documentary, “Ghosts of Afghanistan”, which debuted in English, French and German in 2021.

• Taliban
• Political economy
• Conflict analysis
• Informal trade

• English
• French
• Dari

The Dogs Are Eating Them Now: Our War In Afghanistan