Qualifications

Without having studied the matter in detail, I can say that Afghanistanica's picture of the difficulties in getting people with area studies expertise into government jobs clicks with a lot of anecdotes I've heard from people working in Middle East Studies. Basically, going to the region regarding which you will be helping devise and/or implement policies counts heavily against you. One friend was even told that time in Israel would hurt her chances of employment.

(Crossposted to American Footprints)