Sudarsan Raghavan

Cairo

Cairo bureau chief covering North Africa and Yemen Education: University of California at Los Angeles, political science and economics; Columbia University, master's in journalism; Columbia University, master's in international affairs; Columbia University, graduate-level certificate in South Asia studies Sudarsan Raghavan, the Washington Post’s Cairo bureau chief, has spent the last three decades mostly as a foreign correspondent based in Baghdad, Kabul, Johannesburg, Madrid and Nairobi (twice). He has investigated child slavery and other abuses, reported on presidential elections, refugee crises, natural disasters and societal trends in more than 65 countries on four continents. He has extensively covered Islamist movements, global terrorism and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the rise of the Taliban in the mid 1990s, the U.S. military intervention after 9/11 and the Iraq invasion. He has also covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the 2011 Arab revolutions and 17 African wars. As Baghdad bureau chief, Sudarsan ran the Post's largest overseas operation during the Iraq war's most violent years. A 2001 investigation with a colleague exposed abusive child labor practices on West African cocoa farms that led to new US anti-slavery legislation and forced US chocolate companies to tackle the abuses. Sudarsan joined The Post in 2005 after working for Knight Ridder, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Newsweek. Raised in Los Angeles, Madras and Quebec, he began his career freelancing from the Afghan-Pakistan border and later post-apartheid South Africa. Honors & Awards:

George Polk Award for International Reporting, 2001
Overseas Press Club Hal Boyle Award, 2018
Overseas Press Club Bob Considine Award, 2008
Overseas Press Club Joe and Laurie Dine Award, 2001
Overseas Press Club Hal Boyle Award citation for excellence, 2010
Asia Society’s Osborn Elliott Prize, 2016
Livingston Award for International Reporting, 2001
Investigative Reporters and Editors Medal, finalist, 2001
Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, finalist 2001
Sixteen other awards recognizing coverage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; Islamic militancy in Somalia; the Congo war; investigations of child slavery in West Africa, suburban heroin abuse in Pennsylvania and a series of rapes in Maryland; feature writing and breaking news.

Latest from Sudarsan Raghavan

Middle East

Egypt’s women are rising up against sexual violence. Others are still being jailed for TikToks.

Scores of women are holding abusers accountable. Other women are getting jailed for their attire and dancing.

Jul 31, 2020

National Security

U.S. remains on the sidelines in Libya’s conflict as Russia extends its reach

As Trump administration sends mixed messages, a divide is growing among NATO nations. Meanwhile, mercenaries are rushing in, sensing economic opportunity.

Jul 20, 2020

Middle East

Egypt tries to silence its critics in the United States by jailing their relatives

The Sissi government has threatened and arrested the family members of Americans.

Jul 9, 2020

Middle East

Arab governments denounce Israel’s plans to annex the West Bank, warning it will imperil regional security and peace building. But will Israel listen?

Annexation plans come as Israel is forging ties with many Arab nations, sharing their concerns over Iran and terrorism and building trade, technology and security links.

Jun 27, 2020

Middle East

Yemeni rebels announce missile and drone strikes on Saudi capital

Saudi Arabia has not commented on Houthi claims that ministries and an air base were hit.

Jun 23, 2020

Middle East

Egypt thought it dodged the worst of the pandemic. But now hospitals are being overwhelmed.

Egyptians are begging for scarce hospital beds on social media. Scores of doctors and nurses have died.

Jun 17, 2020

Middle East

Pro-government forces in Libya seize warlord’s last western stronghold

The capture of Tarhuna further thwarted Khalifa Hifter’s ambitions to seize the capital and rule Libya.

Jun 5, 2020

Middle East

Rebel threats, secret burials and shuttered hospitals mask spread of Yemen’s epidemic

Official coronavirus deaths are in the dozens. Health experts warn they could reach tens of thousands.

Jun 3, 2020

Middle East

Pentagon accuses Moscow of sending fighter jets to back Libyan warlord

The U.S. Africa Command said the warplanes will support Russian mercenaries backing Khalifa Hifter, who has suffered a series of military setbacks.

May 26, 2020

Middle East

As military power shifts in Libya, Turkey and Russia control country’s fate

Turkish support for a U.N.-backed government pushed back warlord Khalifa Hifter, whose allies include Moscow.

May 23, 2020