Historian · Author · Public Scholar
Dr Nabi Sahak is a historian of Anglo-Afghan relations, British India, and the political history of modern South and Central Asia.
Dr Sahak’s Background
Raised in Kabul, Dr Nabi Sahak began his career as a BBC journalist, reporting across Afghanistan and Pakistan from 1997 to 2002, during the first five years of Taliban rule. His work with the BBC included extensive field assignments for its educational programming, taking him to 27 of Afghanistan’s provinces, 12 Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan, and internally displaced persons (IDP) centres across Afghanistan. This sustained engagement with communities affected by conflict and political change subsequently informed his scholarly interest in the history of Afghanistan, Pakistan, British India, and modern South and Central Asia.
Dr Sahak earned his BA in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. He then completed an MA in Peace and Conflict Resolution at the University of Queensland as a Rotary Peace Fellow. He later received a US–UK Fulbright Scholarship to undertake doctoral research at King’s College London, where he earned his PhD in War Studies.
His research interests encompass international history, Anglo-Afghan relations, empire and colonialism, war and diplomacy, security studies, sovereignty, borders and frontiers, and the political history of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and modern South and Central Asia.
Academic Education
My academic journey was built step by step, with each degree providing the foundation for the next. Beginning with an Associate of Science (AS) from Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC, USA), I progressed to a BA from George Mason University (USA), an MA from the University of Queensland (Australia), and a PhD in War Studies from King’s College London (UK). This academic progression provided the intellectual foundation for my ongoing scholarly work and culminated in the publication of my monograph, Anglo-Afghan Power and Politics, 1893–1947: The Durand Line Unmasked.
Doctoral thesis: The Origins of Anglo-Afghan Relations: Clarification of the Durand Line, 1893–1947. Supervised by Professor Michael Rainsborough and Professor David Martin Jones; examined by Professor Richard Wolf and Professor Faisal Devji. Passed without corrections.
Master’s thesis: Survival or Strategy: The Question of Pakistan’s Interference in Afghanistan.
The foundation of Dr Sahak’s higher education in the United States and the beginning of the academic progression that led to his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.
Academic Fellowships
Full doctoral funding for PhD research in War Studies at King’s College London.
View the U.S. Department of State award announcementFull funding for the MA in Peace and Conflict Resolution at the University of Queensland.
Books
Palgrave Macmillan, 2025
A historical reassessment of the Durand Line and Anglo-Afghan relations from 1893 to the partition of British India in 1947. Drawing on British and Afghan archival and diplomatic sources, the book reconsiders the intentions behind the 1893 mission, the agreements that followed, and the frontier’s contested political meaning. It situates the Durand Line within the wider history of British imperial strategy, Afghan sovereignty, and the geopolitical rivalries that shaped modern South and Central Asia.
View the book at Springer Nature
Hosted by Professor Andrew Lambert, the lecture presented the book’s original archival analysis of the 1893 boundary arrangement to faculty and graduate researchers in the Department of War Studies.
Watch the keynote lecture“The first comprehensive study of the making of the Durand Line”, drawing on “hitherto unknown Afghan sources”.
Faisal Devji · Professor of Indian History, University of Oxford
“Essential reading for anyone seeking a deeper, more nuanced understanding of Anglo-Afghan relations.”
Richard Caplan · Professor of International Relations, University of Oxford
The book “brings Afghanistan back into the South Asian narrative”.
Matthew McCartney · Professor and former Director, Contemporary South Asia Studies Programme, University of Oxford
“Now, at last, Nabi Sahak has filled this gap in an original book of real authority. We should all be in his debt.”
James Mayall, FBA · Emeritus Professor of International Relations, University of Cambridge
“A crucial contribution to our comprehension of a geopolitical fault line.”
James Kurth · Emeritus Professor of Political Science, Swarthmore College
A “rigorous study” offering “a fresh and illuminating perspective”.
Michael Rainsborough · Professor and Academic Principal, Australian War College
Afghan Diaspora Network’s review engages in detail with the monograph’s central archival argument and its reassessment of the surviving documentary record.
Read the reviewDiscussion of Anglo-Afghan Power and Politics, 1893–1947: The Durand Line Unmasked on the New Books Network, in conversation with Qaseem Ahmadzai.
Listen to the interviewBeginning where The Durand Line Unmasked ends, this study examines how an imperial frontier survived the transfer of sovereignty in 1947 and continued to shape relations among Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Pashtun communities it divides. It investigates the persistence of British imperial structures after decolonisation and the unresolved relationship between territorial sovereignty, political authority and the inherited frontier.
This project examines Pashtunwali as an oral and adaptive normative order that has shaped Pashtun understandings of authority, obligation, honour and communal life across successive states and empires. Drawing on historical texts, oral traditions and comparative legal perspectives, it investigates how an enduring system of customary authority operated without a codified constitutional archive.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, 110(5), 732–733.
Read the articleAfghanistan (Edinburgh University Press).
Book Chapters
In David Martin Jones, Paul Schulte and Carl Ungerer (eds), Handbook of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Post 9/11, pp. 181–192. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
View the chapterSelected Papers and Op-Eds
Analysis for policy and public audiences on Afghanistan, conflict and regional politics.
Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).
Read at RUSIThe Fletcher Forum of World Affairs.
Read the articleTeaching and Academic Visiting Lectureships
Teaching and invited lectures on war studies, Afghanistan, diplomacy, borders and conflict resolution.
Graduate Teaching Assistant (2018–2021) on the Art of War Studies module, managing seminars and examinations for a cohort of 36 students. Subsequently invited as a recurring guest lecturer by Professor David Martin Jones, teaching graduate and undergraduate cohorts on war studies and contemporary South Asian security.
Watch the 2026 book lectureRecurring guest lecturer, hosted by Professor James Mayall, FBA, on Anglo-Afghan relations, the Durand Line and post-colonial Afghanistan.
More than ten invited lectures at the Nancy Hatch Dupree Research Centre on Afghanistan–Pakistan bilateral tensions, the historical evolution of border disputes and regional security frameworks.
Guest lecturer, hosted by Dr Anne Brown, on peacebuilding frameworks for Afghanistan’s relations with India, China, Russia and Iran, and on the political history of post-colonial Afghanistan.
More than ten guest lectures for graduate and undergraduate seminars on the regional security implications of drone operations, US foreign policy in Afghanistan and NATO-led peacebuilding initiatives.
Invited lectures at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies on the historical formation of the Durand Line, the administrative evolution of the former North-West Frontier Province and the consequences of decolonisation for regional security.
Invited Talks
Invited address to the Warwick District United Nations Association, publicised as “The Origins of the Taliban and Afghanistan’s Future”, followed by a question-and-answer session with Matthew Western MP.
View the eventKeynote address to British and American government and business leaders, including US Assistant Secretary of State Marie Royce and members of the British Parliament.
View the U.S. Department of State award announcementRecurring featured speaker delivering policy presentations to Afghan and Pakistani diplomats and civil-society leaders on the Afghan–Pakistan frontier.
More than thirty presentations to Rotary audiences on global peace initiatives, conflict resolution and the role of international non-governmental organisations in regional stability. The University of Queensland’s official Class XIII Peace Fellows’ Seminar programme records Dr Sahak’s presentation, “Border Conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan”.
Public Engagement, Media and Scholarly Debate
Selected conversations on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Pashtunkhwa, the Durand Line and the history of Anglo-Afghan relations.
Invited historical address marking the 107th anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence.
Watch the addressAfghan Diaspora Network · Dari-language scholarly discussion of the archival case developed in Dr Sahak’s monograph.
Watch the discussionSiyaqCasts · Pashto.
Watch the interviewInterview hosted by Habib Hotaki · Dari.
Watch the interviewPanel discussion on Amu TV · Pashto.
Watch the discussionAfghanistan International · Pashto.
Watch the interviewWesal TV · Pashto.
Watch the interviewExpert panellist on Taking Apart Terror, produced by Fresh Air Production for the Global Coalition Against Daesh and hosted by Adnan Sarwar.
Listen to the discussionDocumentary feature and scholarly profile by the University of Queensland.
Watch the profileEnglish Academic Lecture Series and Corresponding Articles
Recorded lectures and companion essays examining Afghanistan’s modern history, Anglo-Afghan relations, the nineteenth-century Great Game in Asia, the Anglo-Afghan Wars and the Durand Line through treaties, archival records, maps and diplomatic correspondence.
An introduction to the research programme, its documentary method and the central historical question: what was the original purpose of the 1893 Durand Line arrangement?
Watch the lectureThe full introductory essay traces the convergence of British and Russian imperial expansion, explains the archival problem surrounding the Durand Mission and outlines the chronological programme of lectures to follow.
Read the articleA concise introduction to Dr Sahak’s monograph, research interests and multilingual programme of academic lectures and historical analysis.
Watch the introductionPashto Academic Lecture Series and Corresponding Articles
A Pashto-language programme presenting archival research on Afghanistan, Anglo-Afghan relations, imperial frontier-making and the history of the Durand Line.
The opening Pashto lecture introduces the book, the research programme and the documentary questions that structure the series.
Watch the Pashto lectureThe accompanying Pashto article will be published here as the series develops.
Dari Academic Lecture Series and Corresponding Articles
A Dari-language programme extending the same research-led, documentary approach to Afghanistan’s modern history, regional diplomacy and contested frontiers.
The opening Dari lecture introduces the monograph, the purpose of the multilingual series and the primary-source approach guiding the lectures.
Watch the Dari lectureThe accompanying Dari article will be published here as the series develops.
Languages
Contact
For academic collaboration, speaking invitations, interviews or book-related correspondence.
nsahak.research@gmail.com