Rise to Peace
Across Regions.

John Jay College, New York · 2019-11-08

Civil Society & Prevention

Khurshid University, Kabul · 2018-06-27

Is Peace Possible?

Ahmad Shah Mohibi / LinkedIn · 2021-08-30

Public Evacuation Update

CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta · 2021-08-28

Families Wounded or Missing After the Airport Bombing

WION · 2021-08-20

Child Lifted Over Kabul Airport Wall

CNN Newsroom · 2021-08-19

Kabul Airport / Rise to Peace Journalists on the Ground

CNN Cuomo Prime Time · 2021-08-19

Kabul Footage Credited to Rise to Peace

New York Post · 2021-08-19

Kabul Airport Chaos / Rise to Peace Social Clips

Business Insider · 2021-08-19

Reuters Reprint of Kabul Wall Image

Washington Examiner · 2021-08-18

Families Trying to Escape Kabul

Rise to Peace · 2021-02-25

A Conversation on Domestic Terrorism in the United States

A public conversation with Michael R. Sherwin on domestic terrorism, investigations, prevention, and public responsibility in the United States.

TOLOnews · 2018–2020

Peace, Terrorism and Security — Additional Segments

family · 1990s

A Family That Refused to Let War Become the Teacher

The family lived through displacement, political upheaval and loss. His father, Mohibullah, served in the military and treated education as a form of protection. His mother, Halima, could not read or write, but shielded the children through war and insisted that survival could not be the limit of their future.

education · 1997

Books in a House Without a Classroom

During a period when normal schooling had collapsed, Shah remembers his father returning with a bag of math books and Persian stories and telling the children to learn. The lesson stayed with him: ignorance could be weaponized, so education had to be defended.

women-youth · 1990s–2010s

His Sister’s Education Was Taken Away—Then She Built It Back

Homa was locked out of school during the Taliban years, later taught herself, earned a degree and went on to work in development and education environments associated with USAID, UNDP and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education. Her path became part of Shah’s lifelong belief that women’s access to education is inseparable from peace and opportunity.

family · After 2001

One Family, Different Front Lines

After 2001, members of the family entered different forms of public and security service: military service, U.S.-mission support, development work and presidential protection. The family story made conflict, government, humanitarian work and education personal rather than abstract.

education · After 9/11

From Badakhshan to Kabul: The World Suddenly Opened

After the Taliban government collapsed in 2001, Shah’s family moved from Badakhshan to Kabul. He learned English from his father’s manuals and ESL classes, spent paid hours in internet cafés trying to understand the wider world, and eventually saved enough to buy his first desktop computer. Access to information became one of the defining ideas of his later work.

coexistence · 2006–2010s

Before He Traveled the World, the World Came to Kabul

Working around Afghans, Americans and multinational military and civilian personnel exposed Shah to people from dozens of countries, languages, cultures, faiths, foods and ways of thinking. Kabul became his first global classroom and helped shape the coexistence philosophy behind Rise to Peace.

research · 2006–2010s

Learning How Violence Recruits People

Years of mission support, threat analysis, rule-of-law and counterterrorism environments gave Shah a close view of how violence is organized—and why people are pulled toward it. That experience later shaped Rise to Peace’s emphasis on recruitment, grievance, identity, misinformation and prevention rather than treating terrorism as one nationality, religion or battlefield.

migration · United States

The First Country He Traveled To Became Home

After years working with the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, Shah came to the United States through the Special Immigrant Visa pathway, continued public-service work and began building a life in the country he had first encountered through people working in Kabul.

education · 2014–2017

George Mason: Turning Lived Experience Into Study

He studied Government and International Politics at George Mason University. The campus years became more than a degree: they became the recruiting ground for the first students and volunteers who would help turn Rise to Peace from an idea into a living organization.

public-service · U.S. public service

National Security, Foreign Affairs and Crisis Work

Across U.S. government and mission-support environments, his work expanded from Afghanistan into national security, foreign affairs, rule of law, international development, stabilization and crisis operations. The contrast between ground reality and institutional decision-making became one of the central questions he wanted Rise to Peace to address.

organization · 2016

One Story Became a Platform

Shah founded Rise to Peace in 2016, with Michael R. Sherwin as a founding board member. The premise was simple: people should have a place to understand violence, learn from one another and build alternatives through research, education, dialogue and practical work.

leadership · 2016–2017

It Started by Asking People on Campus to Join

Before there was a global network, there was direct recruiting: Shah pitching strangers on a campus sidewalk, asking students and young professionals to volunteer, research, write and help build something. Some joined for a semester; others stayed, returned as mentors, or carried the experience into careers of their own.

intelligence · From 2017

Active Intelligence Began as Human Work

Before today’s AI-assisted workflows, Active Intelligence was built around people. Researchers followed public reporting, local sources and open social platforms, logged security incidents, compared sources and produced recurring updates. The core principle was—and remains—human judgment before publication.

education · 2017–2018

From the Field to the Elliott School

Shah completed graduate study in International Policy and Practice at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, connecting field experience with policy, diplomacy and institutional practice.

community · Jul 8, 2017

Say Hello: Peace Starts With Human Contact

One of the early community projects pushed the mission outside policy language and toward a simpler idea: contact, conversation and human recognition are part of how societies resist fear and division.

convening · Dec 6, 2017

Global War on Terrorism: Myths, Realities, Solutions

Rise to Peace convened a public discussion at George Washington University’s Elliott School around the Global War on Terrorism—part of an early strategy to bring lived experience, researchers, journalists and practitioners into the same room.

recognition · 2018

Building the Organization Like a Social Venture

Rise to Peace advanced in George Washington University’s New Venture Competition during its early growth, reflecting an effort to build the mission as a durable operating model rather than a one-off campaign.

convening · Apr 25, 2018

Afghanistan in 2020: Is Peace Possible?

Rise to Peace held a public dialogue on Afghanistan’s future at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., bringing lived experience and policy perspectives into the same room.

convening · Jun 27, 2018

Taking the Peace Conversation Back to Kabul

A Rise to Peace discussion at Khurshid University brought the question of Afghanistan’s future into a university setting in Kabul, connecting the Washington dialogue with people living the conflict directly.

media · Jul 2018

The Peace Process Goes on Air

Shah appeared on TOLOnews to discuss U.S. direct talks with the Taliban and the Afghan peace process—an early example of the organization using media as public education, not simply publicity.

convening · Nov 13, 2018

Countering Violent Extremism: From Definition to Prevention

Rise to Peace continued its public-dialogue series with a discussion focused on violent extremism and prevention, reinforcing the organization’s push to move the terrorism conversation beyond labels and toward the human process that produces violence.

community · 2018–2020

Testing Small, Practical Community Ideas

Early community work explored a recurring idea: peace is strengthened when daily life becomes more workable. Small livelihood and community experiments in Afghanistan accompanied the organization’s research and public dialogue.

field-research · 2019

A Local Research Presence in Kabul

Rise to Peace established a local presence in Kabul to strengthen field research and engagement. Organizational records describe more than 60 interviews with Afghan officials, political figures, civil-society representatives, local leaders and other stakeholders, alongside relationships with universities, media organizations and roughly 18 civil-society organizations.

education · Mar 13, 2019

Elections, Extremism and the Next Generation

At the American University of Afghanistan, Rise to Peace’s public-engagement work connected political transition, extremism and the role of young people in Afghanistan’s future.

youth · 2019

Seeing Radicalization Through the Eyes of Children

During a Kabul visit, Shah describes meeting more than fifty-five young detainees at a rehabilitation center, including children and teenagers associated with Taliban and Islamic State cases. The experience sharpened Rise to Peace’s focus on indoctrination, recruitment, identity, grievance and the need to intervene before violence becomes purpose.

convening · Nov 8, 2019

Civil Society and Prevention in New York

A Rise to Peace discussion at John Jay College extended the convening model beyond Washington and Kabul, bringing civil-society and prevention questions into another academic community.

convening · Dec 11, 2019

Afghanistan 2020 at the Elliott School

A documented Elliott School discussion brought journalists, regional experts and practitioners together as Afghanistan approached another critical year. A full transcript preserves the substance, not just the event photo.

women-youth · Autumn 2020

Yarning: Women Teaching Women in Badakhshan

In Gunbaz Balocha, Rise to Peace piloted a women-led textile and handicraft project with five skilled female artisans, six learners, a local project manager and logistical support. The idea was practical: preserve skills, create a space for women to learn together and test pathways toward home-based income.

convening · Feb 25, 2021

Bringing the Prevention Lens Home

A public conversation on domestic terrorism with Michael R. Sherwin reflected a broader evolution in the organization’s thinking: the mechanics of grievance, propaganda and violence are not confined to one country or ideology.

crisis · Aug 2021

When the Research Became an Emergency

As Kabul collapsed, Rise to Peace moved into real-time crisis documentation and support. Shah appeared repeatedly on international television while the organization’s network shared information from the airport environment and helped families navigate evacuation channels through military, veteran and trusted partner networks.

media-credit · Aug 19, 2021

A Rise to Peace Image Moves Through Reuters

Reuters distributed the image of an Afghan girl being pulled over the Kabul airport wall with a “Rise to Peace/via REUTERS” credit. The moment became one of the clearest public records of Rise to Peace material entering the global news cycle.

media-credit · Aug 19, 2021

NBC Credits a Journalist Working With Rise to Peace

NBC News reported that a journalist working for Rise to Peace captured U.S. soldiers helping a woman and a child over the airport wall.

media-credit · Aug 19, 2021

CNN Airs Kabul Footage Under the Rise to Peace Name

CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time logged on-screen video credit to “RISE TO PEACE / EARLIER TODAY / KABUL, AFGHANISTAN,” preserving a broadcast record of the organization’s material during the evacuation crisis.

humanitarian · Aug 2021

Family Rescue Became a Wider Network of Help

Shah’s own family was trying to escape, but the work widened. He coordinated with military and veteran networks, moved names and information through trusted channels and helped eligible families navigate a rapidly changing evacuation environment. Public interviews from that week captured the work while it was still unfolding.

humanitarian · Nov 2021–2022

The Evacuation Did Not End at the Airport

Rise to Peace continued reporting on Afghans stranded in transit in Abu Dhabi. The organization documented conditions, amplified evacuee concerns and helped keep attention on people whose journey to safety had stalled after leaving Afghanistan.

education · 2019–2020s

Language, Education and Opportunity Beyond Afghanistan

Rise to Peace’s education vision included planning connected to Türkiye and displaced communities, using language, mentorship and practical learning as routes into opportunity.

women-youth · Ongoing

Women and Youth Were Never a Side Issue

Across research and field programming, Rise to Peace examined how exclusion, recruitment and violence affect women and young people—and the equally important role women and youth play in prevention, education, economic participation and community leadership. Afghanistan was central, while research and monitoring also looked across Africa, the Middle East and other regions.

leadership · A decade of fellowships

Not Everyone Joined Because They Needed a Job

Some participants were students. Others already worked full-time in government, finance, technology, education, healthcare, law enforcement or intelligence and wanted experience in foreign affairs, research or public-interest work. Rise to Peace gave them projects, editorial feedback, publication opportunities, mentorship and a professional network they could carry into the rest of their careers.

media · 2025

Returning to CNN to Revisit the Evacuation

Years after the fall of Kabul, Shah returned to CNN to discuss the 2021 evacuation, vetting, resettlement and lessons from the withdrawal—showing how the same crisis continued to shape public debate long after the airport closed.

ai · 2025–2026

AI Joined the Workflow—It Did Not Replace the Team

The newest generation of Rise to Peace systems uses AI to assist discovery, translation, summarization, classification, drafting, source comparison and workflow automation. Human researchers and editors remain responsible for judgment, verification and publication decisions.

research · Sep 2026

A Public Research Archive Measured in Hundreds of Posts

The public WordPress archive contains 675+ posts as of September 2026, in addition to special reports, manuals, interviews and other long-form work. The stronger story is not one giant report; it is the habit of publishing continuously for a decade.

convening · 2017–2026

40+ Conferences, Dialogues and Public Forums

Across Washington, New York, Kabul and online settings, Rise to Peace has brought researchers, practitioners and communities together for conferences, panels and public dialogue.

media · A decade in media

From Analyst to a Long-Running Public Voice

Television interviews, public commentary and field reporting have carried the work to wider audiences. Explore the individual appearances, topics and source records in the media archive.

recognition · 2026

Counterterrorism Editorial Service

Shah joined a counterterrorism-focused editorial board at Homeland Security Today, extending the research and public-education role into another professional platform.

women-youth · 2026

Returning to Yarning With a Larger Women-Led Model

Rise to Peace developed a new 12-month Yarning proposal for Gunbaz Balocha: 30 women participants, five female artisan trainers, peer learning, practical production, enterprise skills and market testing. It builds on the 2020 pilot and is seeking funding rather than being presented as already delivered.

women-youth · 2026 context

Why Women’s Learning Spaces Matter Now

The next phase is shaped by the reality that Afghan girls remain barred from formal education beyond Grade 6 and women from university. Rise to Peace’s women-focused work is designed around preserving locally viable spaces for learning, peer support, skills, leadership and economic participation.

education · Next chapter

The Internet Café Dream Became a Learning-Hub Vision

One of Shah’s long-running ideas is deliberately simple: a safe place in a village where a young person can reach the internet, learn English, build digital skills, meet mentors and see a world beyond the limits around them. The ambition is to adapt community learning hubs with schools and local partners in places from Afghanistan to Africa and beyond.

future · 2026 →

The Next Decade: Give Someone Else the Opening

Rise to Peace began with the openings that changed one boy’s life—books, English, a computer, mentors, people from other cultures and a chance to do meaningful work. The next decade is about multiplying those openings: stronger fellowships, better research tools, women-led local programs, learning hubs, public dialogue and responsible technology.