The American Institute of Afghanistan Studies played a central role in the eight-day March visit of American poet and translator Coleman Barks to Afghanistan on an Academic specialist grant from the U.S. Department of State/Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Over the past quarter-century, Barks has done more than anyone else to make 13th century mystic Jalaluddin Rumi the best-selling poet in America. His visit, in cooperation with the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture, marks the renewal of the U.S. State Department Speaker and Specialist Program in post-conflict Afghanistan.

Barks came also as a long-standing friend of Dr. Whitney Azoy, AIAS Senior Research Fellow and Center Director. While in Kabul, Barks stayed at the AIAS Center which also hosted his first performance. Serving as Persian poetry reciter for the week was AIAS employee Rohullah Amin, who traveled to Mazar-i-Sharif, Balkh, and Herat with Barks and Azoy.

Jalaluddin Rumi was born in Balkh, now a village but once called the “Mother of Cities.” In Afghanistan he is still known as Jalaluddin Balkhi.

Coleman Barks left Afghanistan after a spectacular visit deemed by PAO Michael Macy as "pioneering" and "the pride of all those at State who put it together."