Jason Burke

Jason Burke has been a foreign correspondent for almost 30 years. He studied history at Oxford before working for local and national newspapers in the UK. In 1991, he spent time with kurdish peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq, an experience which sparked a deep interest in the Middle East, and the Islamic world. In 1998, Jason was based in Pakistan and Afghanistan as a freelancer.

Since, he's worked, lived or reported across South Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. He covered wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and in Israel-Palestine, and is currently the Guardian's international security correspondent.

Jason has published four critically acclaimed books. The first, al-Qaeda, was credited with significantly influencing the view of radical Islamic violence in the aftermath of 2001, while The 9/11 Wars was a book of the year for the Economist and the Independent. In 2015, the New Threat from Islamic Militancy was shortlisted for the Orwell prize, and in 2025 The Revolutionists was long listed for the Baillie Gifford prize for non fiction writing.

Jason has multiple awards for his journalism, and is a frequent commentator on radio and TV. He lives near London and enjoys running, cycling, reading, cooking, playing the piano badly and messing around with his teenage children.