Advance ticket sales underway

Date: Tuesday November 10, 2009

Advance ticket sales are now underway to Camden Conference Members for what promises to be one of the most compelling Camden Conferences ever: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India – Crossroads of Conflict. Those wishing to avoid the risk of losing out for one of the much-sought-after spots at the historic Camden Opera House can get a jump on the process by signing up now to become a member of the conference. Tickets go on sale to the public on Monday, November 30th.

A seat at the Opera House will allow attendees to listen in-person and direct questions to keynote speaker Ahmed Rashid, a journalist, author and one of the best known commentators on the Taliban, the Afghan war and the increasingly unsettled state of his native Pakistan. Rashid, who will travel to Camden from his home in Lahore, Pakistan, appears regularly on CNN, PBS and BBC World, as well as National Public Radio.

Those at the Camden Opera House venue will also see up close other speakers including National Geographic film maker and 40-year student of Afghanistan and the Muslim world G. Whitney Azoy, former chief National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia Paul Pillar, and award-winning designer, artist, author and educator Samina Quareshi, author of the upcoming book “Pirates and Princes,” tales of travelers from Italy to India.

Azoy, who from 2005 to 2007 served as director of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies in Kabul, is currently co-producing a documentary film entitled Afghanistan: A Nation of Poets. He has been a guest on the Lehrer News Hour, CNN International, and other foreign news programs.

Pillar just this September argued in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post that a convincing case has never been made that having a haven in Afghanistan would make al-Qaeda or other terrorists a greater danger to the US. He compares expanding the US military effort in Afghanistan without examining this underlying assumption to President Lyndon Johnson’s decision to pursue the Vietnam War on the basis of the “flawed” assumption that losing Vietnam would cause other nations to “fall like dominoes to Communism.”

Presiding over the affair and creating what should be a fascinating dialogue with the speakers will be Nicholas Burns, under-secretary of state for political affairs in the administration of George W. Bush, with authority for US negotiations with Iran and India, among other places. Burns, a popular speaker at last year’s conference, is currently professor of diplomacy and international politics at the Kennedy School, Harvard University.

In addition to the live event at the Camden Opera House, the Feb. 19-21 conference will also be streamed live to satellite venues at The Strand Theatre in Rockland and the University of Maine Hutchinson Center in Belfast. Limited questions will be taken from attendees at these venues, as well. Tickets at the Opera House are $220 this year, while attending at the satellite venues costs $150. Special student rates of $40 are available at satellite venues.