Sayed Ziafatullah Saeedi is a PhD candidate at the Bonn International Center for Conflict Studies (BICC) and ZEF. His research focuses on rebel governance, power-sharing and state capture. He holds a master’s degree from the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy at the University of Erfurt and a bachelor’s degree from the American University of Afghanistan. Mr. Saeedi has been previously affiliated with DAAD, AMENDS and IWA, and his previous research includes analyses of conflict and corruption in Afghanistan and South Asia. He also runs The World Literature Program, an initiative through which young Afghanistani girls read well-known literary works and publish their own writings on literary platforms.