Since 2007, an experimental Pentagon program has been sending teams of civilian anthropologists and other social scientists into the hardest-fought regions of Iraq and Afghanistan to pursue a mission that's both deeply controversial and increasingly important to U.S. military strategy.
Q&A with Pulitzer journalist on Afghanistan human terrain program
Published August 29, 2009
An experimental Pentagon program embeds civilian anthropologists and social scientists with combat teams in Iraq and Afghanistan to help soldiers understand the local culture, known in military-speak as "human terrain."
Journalist Vanessa Gezari whose reporting on the "Human Terrain" program was supported by the Pulitzer Center, is responding to your questions and comments about her story in The Washington Post Magazine.
Post your questions and comnments for Gezari by September 1, 2009, and check back the week following to see her responses.
Listen to an interview with Gezari on NPR's Tell Me More on September 1st. See local listings here.
Pulitzer Center-sponsored journalist Vanessa Gezari will speak about Afghanistan and her human terrain reporting project and the role of anthropologists at 1 p.m.
The Afghan army commander motioned the American lieutenant into his office. Lt. Col. Attaullah was 48, with gelled hair, blue-framed eyeglasses and the rigid bearing of a communist general. A...
