Victoria C Fontan

Three years after women were barred from higher education in Afghanistan, @AEWA_AFG has launched its first public directory of education providers. Following the Alliance’s Learning Quality Standards, this is our most groundbreaking work to date—the result of over a year of research identifying 200+ providers still teaching women and girls four years into the ban, with part reflected publicly for security reasons. The directory helps women and girls find safe, quality learning pathways across levels and disciplines. Full release in comments. aewa.org.af #EducationInCrisis #AfghanWomen #HigherEducation

When conventional diplomacy appears to have stalled, the burden of peacemaking falls on those trained for war. Today, in Islamabad, that old logic is once again on display. My latest for @thenatlinterest with @ialmarashi nationalinterest.org/blog/silk-road…

Pakistan brings a different set of assets to the table. Its established military-to-military channels worldwide, regional familiarity & tactical flexibility are useful in facilitating sensitive dialogue. Like Norway, Pakistan also contributes troops to peacekeeping missions ⬇️

Tonight at 8:05 pm: Beyond Borders Topics: Mena: 1/ Fragile Ceasefire, Urgent Diplomacy: Pakistan Leads Push to Sustain US-Iran Talks 2/ Hormuz Crisis Threatens Global Trade and Economy 3/ Israel continues attacks on Lebanon Guests: 1/ Dr. Victoria C. Fontan Global Higher Education Leader, Peace & Conflict Scholar, Lahore 2/ Nadim Houry Executive Director of Arab Reform Initiative 3/ Lt. Gen (R) Raza Khan Defence Analyst 4/ Dr. Khalid Waleed Energy Economist 5/ Dania Arayssi Senior Analyst at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy Lebanon Repeat timings: Wednesday at 7:05 am and 2:05 pm Stream on: youtube.com/live/_hs0kOkrG… @OmarButtPK @iqrahanif2610 @DaniaArayssi @VictoriaCFontan @genraza_raza @KhalidWaleed_

On April 9th, @LTGHRMcMaster and I are launching the HART Afghanistan Oral History Archive at the @hooverinstitution. It's the largest collection of mostly Afghan oral histories, preserving voices and perspectives before they're lost. Join us for the launch. Register in person or Zoom: hoover.org/events/afghani…

@eciotti Felicitations Mr le Maire

Je pense à ma famille, à mes parents et à mes enfants. J’ai grandi dans les rues de Nice. Cette ville m’a transmis des valeurs : l’engagement et l’amour de la France.

@eciotti Felicitations!!! 💙🤍❤️

Merci aux Niçois qui viennent de me donner une large victoire et de me porter à la mairie !

@pati_marins64 This is the most logical outcome, the US cannot afford a long term war for internal politics reasons, and Israel either, as you mentioned, since they are running out of interceptors/ammunitions. Every war has two loosers.

Desperation is taking hold, and nukes are not off the table. The US and Israel are descending into desperation, to the point where the nuclear option is now being openly mentioned. Those who claimed Russia and Ukraine would lead to nuclear war, that never materialized in four years. Yet in Iran’s case, the situation is escalating rapidly. Iran has waged an asymmetric war with impressive precision and few errors. It has expended much of its limited arsenal in the process, while successfully opening a corridor for heavy missiles striking Israel directly. Israel is now nearly out of interceptors. A publication in an Israeli newspaper reports that one of Trump’s top advisors is warning that Israel may have to consider nuclear weapons. x.com/haaretzcom/sta… Why is this such a major danger? Because there is deep suspicion that Iran has already developed a small number of warheads. Its nuclear facilities have gone uninspected for many months following the 12-day war. Obviously, with so few warheads, Iran will not announce it, doing so would risk a preventive nuclear strike. But if attacked, we could face nuclear retaliation and an all-out nuclear war. I recently wrote about this here: x.com/pati_marins64/…

“Women of Afghanistan don't need saving. They need opportunities,” that is what I told @Forbes' editor Maggie McGrath. forbes.com/sites/maggiemc…

@BarhamSalih @antonioguterres @Refugees Piroz Be and congratulations!

I am honored to be sworn in by Secretary-General @AntonioGuterres as UN High Commissioner for @Refugees. I take this oath with a deep sense of responsibility to uphold the principles of the UN Charter and stand with those forced to flee.

100 years ago, Sulaymaniyah was bombed by British aircraft in retaliation for the ambitions of Sheikh Mahmoud, aka “the last King of Kurdistan”. Today it’s drones from all sorts of places... Revisiting a piece I wrote in 2015. Plus ça change!!! aljazeera.com/news/2015/9/29…

Today on #IWD2026, and every day, we recognise the indispensable role of Afghan women in shaping the future of their country. @EUCdAtoAFG: "Women’s economic empowerment is not only a question of rights - it is also key for economic resilience and stability."

Thousands have been displaced by the ongoing conflict between #Pakistan and #Afghanistan. Humanitarian partners estimate almost 66,000 people have been displaced by heavy shelling and explosions along the Durand Line as both countries mark their eighth day of fighting.

Stuck in a conflict zone? Here’s what to do.

🟥 DIRECT CERIF GUERRE IRAN / ISRAËL-US Fabrice Balanche @FabriceBalanche @CERIFrerisme Le "DIRECT du CERIF" : des experts de terrain décryptent l'actualité en quelques minutes. Ce que les médias survolent, nos spécialistes l'expliquent : avec clarté, sans jargon, et sans tabou. Des analyses courtes pour éclairer ce que les gros titres ne disent pas toujours.

@joshua_landis It is AI… not disputing the facts, though

What a photo. 😰

@pati_marins64 How likely do you think is the possible use of nuclear power by the US to avoid a protracted conflict?

Asymmetric Wars Are Different You don't measure an asymmetric war by saying you need to assassinate leaders to gain any advantage, especially when that includes opposition leaders. A war needs to be won on the theater of operations, not through political assassinations. You don't measure a war by the number of bombings. They need to be efficient enough to inhibit asymmetric actions, and that's far from happening due to Iran's size, the capillarity of its operations, and the scale of its arsenal. How can we talk about air superiority at this point? Iran's MiGs, despite being outdated, are all intact, and certainly many air defense units are still operating, which is why no one has entered Iranian airspace. No B-2 will penetrate Iran with MiG-29s in operation. And locating and neutralizing these MiGs, which can operate from any highway, takes some time. There are reports of a corvette sunk and a frigate damaged, but Iran still operates dozens of ships (corvettes, frigates, catamarans and robust patrol boats). It's too early to talk about the end of the war. Knowing what posture the Iranian navy will take is crucial for calculating the conflict's duration. The advantage in military power in an asymmetric war against Iran will always be with Israel-US, and that shouldn't be the parameter for calculating the conflict's duration, but rather Iran's capacity to sustain operations while wearing down a much larger power than its own. And we have to measure that capacity day by day, as Iran operates many underground bases it calls missile cities, replete with missiles and many silos across various cities. It's estimated that Iran still possesses 25 missile cities with up to 60 silos and launch points each, plus dozens of bunkers and tunnels also used for launches. Degrading Iran's capacity will be a gradual and exhausting task, with high costs for US-Israel. And it's not enough to bomb the surface structure, blocking the tunnels of these Iranian bunkers. At night, they reopen the entrances with internal machinery and carry out launches quickly. At the second day, the attacks with penetrating munitions on hangars is what Israel is doing, but at this stage of the war, I don't believe the planes are staying in hangars. The situation is much more complex and takes more time than that. It requires hundreds of drones rotating and monitoring all these installations 24/7, which doesn't exist yet. After four years, the Russians haven't been able to stop the Ukrainians from operating aircraft, and Iran is three times larger than Ukraine. Yesterday, Iran shot down a Hermes 900 drone. Even monitoring activities must be done in a way that avoids losing assets. There's a lot of fog of war in the air, giving the impression of the conflict's end when it's just at its beginning. We'll be talking about the final phase when Israeli and American planes are flying over Tehran and American ships are in the Strait of Hormuz. Now the question is about who will run out ammo,

La championne d’échecs iranienne salue la mort d’Ali Khamenei et fustige ces élus, en particulier l’Insoumise Manon Aubry, qui prétendent décider à la place des Iraniens ce qui est bon pour eux. →l.lefigaro.fr/wKst

@abdu Even in war… the best place on earth!

Just now in #Qatar.