Dr. Carter Malkasian has extensive experience in conflict zones, especially Afghanistan and Iraq, and has published several books. From 2015 to 2019, he was the senior civilian advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford.
The highlight of his work in conflict zones was two years in Garmser district in southern Helmand province, Afghanistan (2009 to 2011), as the State Department political officer, working alongside five consecutive infantry battalions, Afghan tribal leaders, and Afghan local leaders in villages on the Helmand River. Before that, he was a civilian advisor to the I Marine Expeditionary Force in al-Anbar province for one year in 2004–2005 and six months in 2006. He also worked Kunar in 2007 and Honduras in 2012; and was General Dunford’s senior advisor in Afghanistan from March 2013 to August 2014.
His newest book is the award-winning The American War in Afghanistan: A History. The New York Times rated it as one of the top 100 books of 2021. He also wrote War Comes to Garmser: Thirty Years of Conflict on the Afghan Frontier and Illusions of Victory: The Anbar Awakening and the Rise of the Islamic State. He received his doctorate in history at Oxford University.