Dr. Qamar-ul Huda

Biography

Dr. Qamar-ul Huda is the Michael E. Paul Distinguished Visiting Professor of International Affairs at the United States Naval Academy. Previously, he served as an associate adjunct professor at Georgetown University's School of Government. Dr. Huda co-founded and was the Vice President of the Center for Global Policy (CGP), a nonpartisan think-tank that focuses on U.S. security and foreign policies in the Middle East, South Aisa, Central Asia and East Asia region. Dr. Huda was a Senior Policy Advisor for U.S. Department of State Secretary's Office for Religion and Global Affairs (S/RGA) where he focused on civil society, religious communities, and diplomacy with non-government organizations. His areas of focus was civil society organizations, education, multilateral affairs, mitigating the violent extremism. The U.S. State Department recruited Dr. Huda to be a seconded diplomat as the first Director of the Department of Dialogue and Collaboration to Hedayah: The International Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. For ten years he worked at the U.S.Institute of Peace, a Congressional funded institute to reduce and prevent global conflict, Department of Religion & Peacemaking as a senior expert, researcher, and resident scholar of religion and global politics focused on conflict resolution, peacebuilding research, religious peacebuilding, and field training to civil society members. He supervised and managed the development of the field of conflict resolution and mediation studies in public schools in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and various parts of the Middle East. Dr. Huda served as a director of the countering violent extremism project at USIP, where he designed, developed and implemented numerous online training courses for USIP's Academy of Conflict Analysis and Conflict Transformation.

At USNA Dr. Huda teaches courses on Afghanistan, U.S. Diplomacy, and Conflict Studies and Conflict Resolution, foreign policy and international relations. He has taught at UCLA,Boston College, Brandeis University, and the College of Holy Cross; examples of his coures are: Ethics in International Affairs, U.S. Foreign Policy and Counter-Terrorism, Ethics of War and Peacemaking, The Politics of International Aid, Religion & Global Diplomacy, The Global Politics of Countering Violent Extremism (CVE), Research and Methods in Conflict Analysis, Geopolitics in South Asia and Modern Iran: Politics, Economics, & Religion. Dr. Huda has published three books, six training manuals on conflict and mediation, religious peacebuilding, and has fifty-five peer-reviewed articles on peacebuilding, conflict resolution, comparative ethics, law, and educational reform. He received research grants from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), The American Academy of Religion (AAR), UCLA's International Security Studies program, and was twice a Fulbright scholar. He earned his doctorate from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in political history, his Master of Arts in political economy and history of Asia & the Middle East. He earned his Bachelor of Arts (honors) from Colgate University in International Relations & Philosophy and Religion. 

• "American needs to Understand the Taliban to Change it" The National Interest, December, 2022
• "Saudi Arabian-Pakistan Relations: Schisms and Challenges" TRENDS, UAE, November, 2020. 
• "A Critique of Countering Violent Extremism Programs in Pakistan" Special Report, August, 2020. 
• "The Trump-Khan Summit and a U.S. Pakistan Reset" The Navigator, July, 2019. 
• "The Role of Religion in the Fight Against ISIS" The Navigator, May, 2019. 
• "India-Pakistan Conflict and the U.S. Strategy for South Asia" The Navigator, February, 2019.
• "Defeating ISIS: What will it Take?" The Navigator, January, 2019.
• "Nothing New with the 2018 Counterterrorism Strategy" The Navigator, October, 2018.
• "The United States: Adrift Between Sovereignty and Multilateralism" The Navigator, September  2018.

Published Books

• "Paghram-e Ishq dar Tasawwuf" 'Meanings of Love in Sufism' in Urdu (Sohrawardi Publications, Lahore), 2019 and 2021.
• "Crescent and Dove: Peace and Conflict Resolution in Islam", editor (Washington, DC: USIP Press, 2011).
• The Urdu translation 'Hillal aur Farhota: Aman wa Tanza - e hal Islam Mein' (Emel Publications, Islamabad,
  2017).
• "Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution in Islam- a Peace Textbook for Seminary Students" in Urdu, Dari, Pashto- 'Islam men qiyam aman aur hal-e tanaza 'at', (Islamabad: Markaz Muthalat Aman, 2009) Second Edition 2018; Third Edition 2019; All editions in Urdu and Dari by Qamar-ul Huda.
• "Striving for Divine Union: Spiritual Exercises for the Suhrawardi Sufis" (London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon Press, 2003). Turkish translation by Insaan Publications in 2005; Urdu translation by 'Awarif Publishishers in 2010; Malay translation by Mathari in 2011.

Honors and Academic Awards

• Social Science Research Council (SSRC) Grant on Conflict Studies
• American Academy of Religion (AAR) Senior research grant recipient
• Selected in The Muslim 500: The World's Most Influential Muslims from 2016-2023, The Royal Islamic Strategic Centre, Amman, Jordan
• UCLA's Center for International Security Studies Research Award Recipient
• Department of Education Title VI Grant for Middle Eastern Studies
• Boston College Teaching, Advising, and Mentoring Grant
• Boston College Faculty Research Grant
• UCLA Department of History Dissertation Fellowship
• Ford Foundation-UCLA Area Studies Fellowship
• UCLA's International Studies and Overseas Programs Fellow in South Asia
• Fulbright Fellow, Pakistan
• American Institute for Pakistan Studies Scholar (AIPS) Scholar
• Fulbright Scholar, Aligarh Muslim University- India

Professional Activity

• Primary architect for The U.S.-Indonesian Council of Pluralism and Dialogue, cosponsored by The U.S. State Department and The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia.
• Primary designer and implementer of bridging Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), UN Taskforce on Counterterrorism, ISESCO, OSCE and ministries of education to address extremist trends.
• Senior Policy Advisor for State Department to guide the Global Engagement Center (GEC), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), & The Policy Planning Office on CVE/CT and Religion issues.
• Established Hedayah's global outreach activities to United Nations, European Union, Global Counterterroism Forum, coordinated these relationships with the State Department's Bureau of Counterterrorism.
• International Board Advisor to The Network of Religious and Traditional Peacebuilders, sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland and Finn Church Aid (FCA).
• Former Advisor to Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate at the United Nations.
• Senior Advisor to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Office of Human Rights Commission.
• Member of the Transatlantic Policy Makers Network on Religion and Foreign Affairs, UK.
• Member of National Security Action Network (NSAN)- USA.
• Member of The Council of Foreign Relations.
• Former Advisor to The U.S.-Islamic Relations Project, Brookings Institutions, Washington, DC.
• Former Book Review Editor, American Political Science Review, the Journal of APSA.
• Former Editorial Advisory Board, International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (IJMES).
• Editorial Advisory Board, International Journal on Islam and International Relations.
• Editorial Advisory Board, International Journal of the History of Sufism.