Award-winning historian and journalist William Dalrymple delivers a masterful account of the infamous First Anglo-Afghan War, drawing striking similarities between the West's first disastrous entanglement with Afghanistan and the situation today.

With access to newly discovered primary sources from archives in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia and India—including a series of previously untranslated Afghan epic poems and biographies—the author gives us the most immediate and comprehensive account yet of the spectacular first battle for Afghanistan. Read a Guardian review. LCC members should RSVP with the LCC at 323.413.2001 or rsvp@levantinecenter.org.

Levantine presents the Abbas Premjee Project, a concert of progressive Pakistani jazz in conjunction with the Inside/Outside Gallery exhibition "The Art of Music" by Adnan Hussain. The exhibition of 19 paintings is inspired by travels through Central and South Asia, featuring watercolor, gouache and ink pieces of music from Kyrgyzstan, Uyghurs from China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia. Enjoy art and live performance in a unique atmosphere.

The Levantine Cultural Center's Inside/Outside Gallery is pleased to present Adnan Hussain's one-person show, "The Art of Music," with deejayed music featuring Central Asian music on Feb. 2 (Kyrgyzstan, Uyghurs), live music on Feb. 8 (Uzbekistan and Mongolia) and a film/deejay/tables on Feb. 22 (Pakistan). Inspired by travels through Central and South Asia, "The Art of Music" features watercolor, gouache and ink pieces of music from Kyrgyzstan, Uyghurs from China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia. Enjoy art, live performances, screenings and connect to cultures across language and borders through the beauty of music. 

14-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai became a worldwide cause célèbre for her activism on behalf of girls' education when in October 2012, she was shot in the head and neck in a Taliban assassination attempt. Malala survived the attack and has become an international symbol of freedom. Her case is only the tip of the iceberg, however, because in other parts of Pakistan getting an education is still an act of defiance. Academy-Award winning director Hemal Trivedi will present her short documentary, Shabeena's Quest, and talk about Shabeena, a remarkable school principal, and her quest to bring education to the children, particularly the young girls, living in the shadow of the Taliban, in Pakistan's Islamabad region. Doors 7 pm, screening 7:30 pm, Q & A 8:15 to 9 pm.

Note from the Editor: The use of drones to spy on, attack and kill with impunity has become a key American security and privacy issue—particularly since drones are not only in widespread use in the Middle East, but also increasingly being deployed by U.S. law enforcement here at home. On the level of popular culture, a hint of what's brewing can be glimpsed in the new film The Bourne Legacy. For those whose hackles are raised after reading this article, we recommend checking in with the Center for Constitutional Rights and the ACLU, and following the issue online (Counterpunch, Alternet, Truthout).

CODEPINK: Women for Peace, Levantine Cultural Center and a host of community organizations have joined forces to support a public conversation with Medea Benjamin and journalist/editor Robert Scheer about her new book Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control. Learn about the travesty of drones, extrajudicial killings and what you can do about it.

In Halal Pork and Other Stories, Cihan Kaan projects an avant garde, post 9/11 world, from the perspective of a young Muslim New Yorker. It's a place where Coney Island meets Mars; where hijabi girls are punk rock dervishes; where identity salesmen count pigeons at insane asylums as a cream cheese conspiracy brews in gitmo; where rich boys pay to be Muslim for a day; where the transgendered are holy; and where the bacon is halal. Kaan offers up five urban Sufi tales in the swirling graffiti of Brooklyn.

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Javed Jabbar is a distinguished Pakistani author, filmmaker and activist.

For decades or perhaps even centuries, disparate societies around the globe have been growing more and more intertwined. A single world culture is emerging; or at least the history of the world as told in different places is merging into the single history of us all.