简介

Charles F. Dunbar was a State Department foreign service officer from 1962-1993. He served as ambassador to Qatar (1983-1985) and to Yemen (1988-1991) and was chargė d’affaires at the American Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan from 1981 to 1983. After his service at the American Embassy in Kabul, he developed and helped carry out a strategy for strengthening the political dimension of the Afghan resistance to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Earlier in his career, he served in Iran (1963-1967), Afghanistan (1967-1970), Morocco (1973-1975), Algeria (1975-1978), and Mauritania (1978-1980). In 1998, Dunbar was the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative responsible for organizing a referendum in Western Sahara and is writing a book on this experience. After leaving the State Department, Dunbar was President of the Cleveland Council on World Affairs (1993-2001) and during that time taught at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, and Hiram College. Before coming to Boston University, he was the Warburg Professor in International Relations at Simmons College (2001-2004). He has published journal articles, as well as chapters in edited volumes, on American foreign policy, the Western Sahara, Yemen, and Afghanistan. His op-ed articles have appeared in The Boston Globe, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, and other newspapers. In addition to the Western Sahara, his research interests include Afghanistan, Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, and post-Cold War United Nations peacekeeping.