St Petersburg International Conference of Afghan Studies

14 Санкт-Петербургская международная конференция по афганистике Foreword Pashtun tribes. B. Dorn’s teaching at the university lasted for only a year and a half in 1856–57 and was discontinued under the covert pressure of “high politics” connected with the so-called Great Game. Thus, another important if only an implicit message of the Conference, organized at the very birthplace of B. Dorn’s scholarly initiative, accentuates the basic principle of freedom and independence of academic activities from any political considerations, even those associated with not frequently complicated and delicate matters of Afghan Studies. Mikhail Pelevin, Head of the Department of Iranian Philology, Faculty of Asian and African Studies, St Petersburg State University Chairman of the Organizing Committee