The rise of China as an investor, financier and economic partner in MENA deserves closer attention. Learn more about China-MENA relations in our podcast.

How is the Afghan Womens Scholars network supporting women scholars in Afghanistan? Founder Sweeta Akbari explains AWS’ platform.

What role can the international community play in supporting students and scholars inside Afghanistan? M. Abul Ahrar Ramizpoor answers.

Supporting Afghan scholars abroad is a challenge. How can the international community help? Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili explains.

The Taliban entered Kabul on August 15, 2021, bringing an ignominious end to direct U.S. and international involvement in Afghanistan. What has emerged since is a dire picture: the Afghan economy has virtually collapsed, women have been systematically and sometimes violently suppressed, civil society has significantly deteriorated. All the while, whether and to what extent the international community needs to engage the Taliban remains an issue of debate. In the summer of 2021, the Center held a dialogue series entitled Crossroads: Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States, that looked at the ties among these three countries ahead of the looming U.S. withdrawal. To pick up where those dialogues left off and discuss the plight of Afghanistan in the time since, Michael Carroll hosted Timor Sharan and Adam Weinstein in this most recent podcast episode.

What are the parameters of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) - China relationship? And, are there differences among GCC countries in terms of their ties to China? Is there a risk of friction between US and China in the GCC, as China may be expanding its engagement with the region beyond economic cooperation?

How has the rise of China's influence in the Middle East and North Africa affected other major powers' roles in the region? Are there opportunities for cooperation between China and the other major powers in the Middle East and North Africa?

Even as global public opinion on China grew negative during the pandemic, Arab Barometer showed that in the Middle East and North African countries surveyed, popular views of China's favorability remained relatively high. What explains this popular perception of China in the MENA region?

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the longstanding macroeconomic woes of the Middle East and North Africa, such as high unemployment and inflation, supply chain problems and inequality were amplified. The economic shock of the pandemic was felt in distinct ways at the individual and household level in different countries around the region. We recently held a workshop in Istanbul to address what governments should prioritize in their economic recovery plans to address poverty, inflation, and labor market inequalities; and invite you to listen to two of the workshop participants as they pick up where that discussion left off.

Rayna Sabah Bakr evaluates the current post-pandemic recovery plans in Iraq. She notes what is being prioritized and what should be prioritized. She then continues with thoughts on how to address gender inequality in Iraq's economic ecosystem.