Dr Zubair Popalzai is a UK-based Afghanistan country expert whose work combines doctoral and policy research with experience involving Afghan government institutions, United Nations missions and programmes, international development agencies, conflict and security research, and almost two decades of Afghan-language political and media analysis.
This work brings together native Pashto and Dari/Farsi language capability, doctoral research on Afghan state-building, experience with United Nations and Afghan government institutions, development and policy work, conflict and security research, and long-term analysis of Afghan-language political and media sources through BBC Monitoring.
As a native speaker of Pashto and Dari/Farsi, he can examine Afghan-language country information and source material directly. For solicitors seeking an Afghanistan country expert or expert witness, he provides independent country research and opinion within his areas of expertise.
Areas of Expertise
- Afghanistan country-of-origin information (COI)
- The Taliban and Afghan insurgency
- Afghan politics and governance
- Conflict and security
- Afghan security institutions
- State-building and political order
- Informal political and power structures
- International intervention
- Aid, development and reconstruction
- Afghan government–donor relations
- Provincial and local political dynamics
- Pashto and Dari political discourse
- Afghan media and source analysis
- Social and cultural context
- Contemporary conditions under Taliban rule
Expert Reports for Solicitors
Dr Popalzai accepts instructions to provide independent Afghanistan country-expert reports and opinion within his areas of expertise, including for asylum, immigration and international protection proceedings. Reports may address political, security, institutional, social, cultural, regional or linguistic country issues arising from the circumstances of an individual case.
Where relevant, he can examine Pashto- and Dari-language source material directly, including terminology, context and political framing that may not be fully reflected in English-language reporting or translation.
Academic & Research Expertise
Dr Popalzai holds a PhD in Public Policy from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Japan, undertaken between September 2008 and November 2011. His doctoral research examined state-building and the fragility of personality-dependent political order in post-Taliban Afghanistan.
He also holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Sussex, awarded in 2005.
UN, Afghan Government & Development Experience
Dr Popalzai worked with the United Nations Special Mission in Afghanistan (UNSMA), 1999–2001; United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), 2002–2003; and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 2003–2004. His work encompassed political affairs and media analysis, governance and representative institutions, international aid coordination, and translation and interpreting for the UN envoy.
As an Aid Coordination Officer, he worked on donor relations, aid effectiveness and Afghan national development priorities, including work with the Afghan Ministry of Finance and direct advice to the Minister of Finance. From 2007 to 2008, he worked as a Governance Advisor with CIDA in Afghanistan.
Conflict, Taliban & Security Research
From June 2012 to June 2013, Dr Popalzai served as Deputy Head of Research at the Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies (CAPS), Kabul. His research addressed the Afghan insurgency, conflict dynamics, governance, Afghan security institutions, insurgent reintegration and insider or “Green-on-Blue” attacks.
In 2012, he led a CAPS study resulting in Insider Attacks: Some Perspectives of the Afghan Security Forces. From 2015 to 2019, he continued with CAPS as a Senior Research Fellow, working remotely, including research relating to Afghanistan's evolving conflict and US–Taliban negotiations.
BBC Monitoring & Afghan-Language Analysis
From 2003 to 2022, Dr Popalzai worked as a consultant with BBC Monitoring, monitoring, translating and analysing Afghan-language media and political developments. His work involved sustained analysis of Pashto- and Dari-language political discourse concerning Afghan governments, the Taliban, conflict and security, governance and political actors.
Contemporary Afghanistan Research
Dr Popalzai maintains his knowledge of contemporary Afghanistan through continuing review of Afghan-language media, United Nations reporting, human-rights reporting, academic research and other relevant Afghan and international sources. He also maintains professional contacts and engagement with Afghan sources.
Scope of Expertise
Dr Popalzai provides country-expert opinion on Afghanistan within the areas identified on this site. He does not provide medical, psychological, forensic, linguistic-identification or legal opinion, and does not determine the credibility of an individual's account.
Where a question is expressed in legal terms, he addresses the underlying country issue falling within his expertise and identifies the limits of what country-expert evidence can properly address. Where a question otherwise falls outside his expertise, he will say so.
Independence & Expert Duty
Dr Popalzai provides expert opinion independently and impartially. When instructed in legal proceedings, his overriding duty as an expert is to assist the court or tribunal by providing impartial, objective evidence. This duty takes precedence over any obligation to the party instructing him.
Where evidence is uncertain, conflicting or insufficient to support a firm conclusion, this is identified accordingly. Potential conflicts of interest or relevant prior involvement are considered before an instruction is accepted and disclosed where appropriate.
Selected Research
- Perils of US-Taliban Peace Negotiations — CAPS, 2019
- State-building and Fragility of Personality-dependent Political Order — E-International Relations, 2014
- Insider Attacks: Some Perspectives of the Afghan Security Forces — CAPS, 2012
- The Aid and Power Nexus in Rebuilding Afghanistan — 2008