Greek Dane killed in Kabul attack

Alexander Petersen is among 21 victims of a Taliban suicide bomber attack. On the night of Friday 17 January he was dining at a Lebanese restaurant in Kabul, a meeting place for officials of international organizations and foreign nationals.

At least 21 people, including 13 foreigners, were killed in Friday’s terrorist attack on the Lebanese restaurant, Taverna du Liban, in Kabul. Two Canadians, two Americans, two Britons, one Lebanese, one Russian, four UN officials and an International Monetary Fund's (IMF) representative in Afghanistan were among foreigners who were killed during the attack. The Taliban in a statement said the attack was carried out in reprisal to a coalition forces airstrike in northern Parwan province of Afghanistan.

Alexadros Petersen, the son of IMF executive Efi Psalida and Danish citizen Christian Petersen, had recently taken up a position at the political science school of the American university of Afghanistan, having just finished his PhD in international relations at the London School of Economics (LSE).

His field of study was the broader Eurasian geo-strategic region, and especially the role of energy. At the time of his untimely demise he was working on his book “China in Central Asia,” while he has also published “The World Island: Eurasian Geopolitics and the fate of the West.”

In the past he had published in Kathimerini in Greece, and in the Economist, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Boston Globe, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and The National Interest.