PULLMAN – Michael J. Baumgartner, a WSU alumni and a Pullman resident, will present an “A View Inside the Afghan and Iraq Wars” at 7p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16, at the Holiday Inn Express. The event is open to the public and admission is free.
Baumgartner just returned to Pullman after serving for seven months as an embedded advisor to an Afghanistan government counternarcotics team in Helmand Province — the source of 60 percent of the world’s opium and a major area of Taliban insurgent activity.
From 2007-2008, Baumgartner served at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and played a lead role in the support of the Baghdad Security Plan as part of the “Iraq Surge.” His duties in this role included attending weekly Iraq Cabinet meetings with U.S. General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, and he was twice given awards from Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki for his activities.
Mr. Baumgartner holds degrees in economics from WSU and Harvard. Afghanistan is the 69th country he has visited.
Mr. Baumgartner holds degrees in economics from WSU and Harvard. Afghanistan is the 69th country he has visited.
