Dr Gérard Chaliand is an observer of insurgency warfare. For the past 40 years he has observed guerrilla movements in countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America and has had close battlefield contact with African, South American, Afghan and Vietnamese guerrillas among others. Dr Chaliand has written about 40 books, 20 of which have been translated into English. He has taught at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration, as well as the National War College in Paris. He has also been a Visiting Professor at Harvard University, UCLA and the University of California at Berkeley. Dr Chaliand was Director of the European Centre for the Study of Conflicts as well as an Advisor to the Centre of Analysis and Planning of the French Foreign Ministry. He has spent nine months in Iraq in the last five years and has been recently twice in Afghanistan as Senior Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies (CAPS) in Kabul.