David Loyn

David Loyn is an author, journalist and analyst who specialises in Afghanistan, South Asia and imperial history. He is currently on an advisory panel to the FCDO on South Asia policy, and co-convenor of a mid-career course for diplomats for the FCDO International Academy on South Asia and Afghanistan. He writes regularly on Afghanistan for the Spectator.

As a BBC correspondent for more than three decades, David won awards in both Radio and Television reporting, including Journalist of the Year from the Royal Television Society for his reporting of the Kosovo conflict in 1998. His last posting as correspondent was in Afghanistan, a country he has been visiting since 1994, including several trips during Taliban control.

From 2017-2018 David worked as Strategic Communications adviser in the office of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. He holds an MA degree in Modern History from Oxford University, and is a qualified barrister. He joined the War Studies Department at King’s in September 2016.

David is a board member of Peace Direct, and an Associate of the Imperial War Museum.

Areas of expertise
• Afghanistan and South Asia
• Strategic communications
• History of war reporting
• International development
• Intervention doctrine
• Imperial history

Publications
Books
• The Long War—the Inside Story of America in Afghanistan since 9/11; (St Martin’s Press, New York 2021)
• Butcher and Bolt – Two Hundred Years of Foreign Engagement in Afghanistan; (London: Hutchinson, 2008)
• Frontline – Reporting from the World’s Deadliest Places; (Michael Joseph, 2005; updated edition
Summersdale, 2011) Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize.