He taught for many years in the School of Politics, University College, University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy, and has served as a Visiting Professor at the Russian Diplomatic Academy, a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Public Policy at the University of Strathclyde, and a Visiting Research Fellow in the Refugee Studies Programme at Oxford University.

He is also a Barrister of the High Court of Australia,a member of the Executive Committee of the Refugee Council of Australia, and a member of the Australian Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP).

In 2002, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

His recent publications include the following works:

2009

'Taliban Toxin', The World Today, vol.65, no.6, June 2009, pp.7-9 (with Wolfgang Danspeckgruber)

'Afghanistan and Its Region', in J. Alexander Thier (ed.), The Future of Afghanistan (Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2009) pp.81-91

'What Are Our Goals in Afghanistan?', The New York Times , 10 January 2009 (Letter to the Editor)

Australia's Diplomatic Deficit: Reinvesting in our instruments of international policy: Blue Ribbon Panel Report (Sydney: Lowy Institute for International Policy, 2009) (with Allan Gyngell, Jillian Broadbent, Brad Orgill, Peter Shergold, and Ric Smith)

'Afghanistan War', 'al-Qaida', and 'Gulf War', in Iain McLean and Alistair McMillan (eds), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009) pp.5, 10, 234-235

'Democracy and Legitimation: Challenges in the Reconstitution of Political Processes in Afghanistan', in Brett Bowden, Hilary Charlesworth and Jeremy Farrall (eds), The Role of International Law in Rebuilding Societies after Conflict: Great Expectations (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009) pp.111-133

2008

'The President Who Would Be King', The New York Times, 6 February 2008 (with Amin Saikal)

'In Defense of Hamid Karzai', The Washington Post, 17 February 2008 (Letter to the Editor)

'Foreign Affairs', in Robert Manne (ed.), Dear Mr Rudd: Ideas for a Better Australia (Melbourne: Black Inc. Agenda, 2008) pp.114-126

'NATO and Afghanistan: Saving the State-Building Enterprise' , in Robin Shepherd (ed.), The Bucharest Conference Papers (Washington DC: German Marshall Fund of the United States; London; Chatham House, 2008) pp.5-17 (with Daoud Yaqub)

'Introduction: Thinking about security and prosperity', and 'Security, prosperity and diplomacy', in William Maley, Hilary Charlesworth, Hugh White, Andrew Macintyre and Robin Jeffrey, Australia's security and prosperity: Ideas for 2020 (Canberra: 'Keynotes' no.9, Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 2008) pp.1-7, 19-25

'Trust, Legitimacy, and the Sharing of Sovereignty', in Trudy Jacobsen, Ramesh Thakur and Charles Sampford (eds), Re-envisioning Sovereignty: The End of Westphalia? (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008) pp.287-300

'Human Rights in Afghanistan', in Shahram Akbarzadeh and Benjamin MacQueen (eds), Islam and Human Rights in Practice: Perspectives Across the Ummah (London and New York: Routledge, 2008) pp.89-107

'La politique afghane du Pakistan', Les Nouvelles d'Afghanistan, no.122, July 2008, pp.10-11

'NATO and Afghanistan: Made for Each Other?', Foreign Service Journal , Vol.85, no.7, July-August 2008, pp.36-40

Global Governance and Diplomacy: Worlds Apart? (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008) (with Andrew F. Cooper and Brian Hocking, co-editors)

'Introduction: Diplomacy and Global Governance: Locating Patterns of (Dis)Connection', in Andrew F. Cooper, Brian Hocking and William Maley (eds), Global Governance and Diplomacy: Worlds Apart? (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008) pp.1-12 (with Andrew F. Cooper and Brian Hocking)

'Corruption, Nepotism and Trust: Problems of Governance in Afghanistan', in State, Security and Economy in Afghanistan: Current Challenges, Possible Solutions (Princeton: Liechtenstein Colloquium Report Volume III, Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, Princeton University, 2008) pp.38-41

' Pakistan -Afghanistan Relations after Musharraf', Afghanistan Info , no.63, September 2008, pp.9-10

'Looking Back at the Bonn Process', in Geoffrey Hayes and Mark Sedra (eds), Afghanistan: Transition Under Threat ( Waterloo : Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008) pp.3-24

Stabilizing Afghanistan : Threats and Challenges ( Washington DC : Policy Brief no.68, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2008)

'The Case of the Afghan Refugee Population: Finding Durable Solutions in Contested Transitions', in Howard Adelman (ed.), Protracted Displacement in Asia: No Place to Call Home ( Aldershot : Ashgate, 2008) pp.131-180 (with Susanne Schmeidl)

'Urgent: Pakistan', The Diplomat, vol. 7. no.4, November-December 2008, pp.34-36

'Building Legitimacy in Post-Taliban Afghanistan', in Ruth Rennie (ed.), State Building, Security, and Social Change in Afghanistan: Reflections on a Survey of the Afghan People (Kabul: The Asia Foundation, 2008) pp.11-26

2007

'Campaigning to Ban Landmines: Some reflections', in Patricia Pak Poy RSM (ed,), A path is made by walking on it: Reflections on the Australian Network to Ban Landmines 1991-2006 (Melbourne: David Lovell Publications, 2007) pp.28-40

A Long Hot Summer: Crisis and Opportunity in Afghanistan (Sydney: Policy Brief: Lowy Institute for International Policy, March 2007) (with Daoud Yaqub)

'Strategic options and power challenges', in Rod Lyon and William Maley, Australia and the Middle East (Canberra: Special Report no.3, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, March 2007) pp.12-31

'Order and Justice in Afghanistan: Some Reflections on the Problem of Amnesty', Afghanistan Info, no.60, April 2007, pp.9-10

'Talking to the Taliban', The World Today , vol.63, no.11, November 2007, pp.4-6

'Building State and Security', in Wolfgang Danspeckgruber with Robert P. Finn (ed.), Building State and Security in Afghanistan (Princeton: Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, Princeton University, 2007) pp.3-18

'Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan - how they arrived and where they are going', NATO Review , no.3, Autumn 2007, pp.1-2

'The Atmospherics of the Nuremberg Trial', in David A. Blumenthal and Timothy L.H. McCormack (eds), The Legacy of Nuremberg: Civilising Influence or Institutionalised Vengeance? (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 2007) pp.3-11

2006

'A "War Against Terrorism"? Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine', in Chika Obiya and Hidemitsu Kuroki (eds), Political Violence and Human Security in the Post 9.11 World (Osaka: JCAS Symposium Series no.24, Japan Center for Area Studies, National Museum of Ethnology, 2006) pp.149-164

'Democratic Governance and Post-Conflict Transitions', Chicago Journal of International Law , vol.6, no.2, Winter 2006, pp.683-701

'The New Afghan Parliament', Afghanistan Info , no.58, March 2006, pp.6-7

Rescuing Afghanistan (London: Hurst & Co.; Sydney: UNSW Press, 2006) pp. 176

'Military Intervention in the Middle East', in Fethi Mansouri (ed.), Australia and the Middle East: A Front-line Relationship (London: I.B. Tauris, 2006) pp.135-152

'Afghanistan and the World', in Peter Greener (ed.), Legacy of Armistace - why Afghanistan? (Auckland: AUT University and Auckland War Memorial Museum, 2006) pp.28-41

2005

'Trends and Options in Transnational Policy: A Conference Report', Australian Journal of International Affairs , vol.59, no.1, March 2005, pp.19-23 (with Pauline Kerr)

'The Future of Political Islam in Afghanistan', in Shahram Akbarzadeh and Samina Yasmeen (eds), Islam and the West: Reflections from Australia (Sydney: UNSW Press, 2005) pp.77-92

'Making a Presidential System Work', Afghanistan Info , no.56, March 2005, pp.10-11

'Democracy in Afghanistan: Elections are not enough', The World Today , vol.61, no.4, April 2005, pp.19-21

'Political Transitions and the Cessation of Refugee Status: Some Lessons from Afghanistan and Iraq', Law in Context , vol.22, no.2, April 2005, pp.156-186

'The United Nations and the Humanitarian Imperative: Some Challenges', in Tony Coady and Michael O'Keefe (eds), Righteous Violence: The Ethics and Politics of Military Intervention (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2005) pp.183-193

'DFAT in the fire', The Diplomat , vol.4, no.2, June-July 2005, pp.30-31

'A More Secure World: Some Reflections', Security Dialogue , vol.36, no.3, September 2005, pp.364-366

'Afghanistan: From Independence to the Rise of the Taliban', in Madhavan K. Palat and Anara Tabyshalieva (eds), History of Civilizations of Central Asia Vol.VI: Towards the contemporary period: from the mid-nineteenth to the end of the twentieth century (Paris: UNESCO, 2005) (with Amin Saikal) pp.447-460

'Honesty Matters', in Patty Fawkner (ed.), Honesty Matters: The Ethics of Daily Life (Sydney: Uniya Jesuit Social Justice Centre, 2005) pp.33-41

'Transnational challenges to security and their impact on Australia and India', in Shared Interests: Australia-India relations into the twenty-first century (Canberra: Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 2005) pp.59-61

'A Democratic future for Afghanistan', The Diplomat , vol.4, no.5, December 2005-January 2006, pp.34-35

'International force and political reconstruction: Cambodia, East Timor, and Afghanistan', in Albrecht Schnabel and Hans-Georg Ehrhart (eds), Security Sector Reform and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding (Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2005) pp.297-312

'Asylum Seekers and Refugees', in Dewi Fortuna Anwar (ed.), Development, Migration and Security in East Asia: People's Movements and Non-Traditional Security Challenges in a Changing East Asia (Jakarta: The Habibie Center, 2005) pp. 241-272

2004

'The Open Front Door: Tourism, Border Control and National Security', Issue Analysis No.42 (Sydney: Centre for Independent Studies, 14 January 2004) pp.4

'Refugees', in Robert Manne (ed.), The Howard Years (Melbourne: BlackInc.Agenda, 2004) pp.144-166

'Political Transition in Afghanistan: The State, Religion and Civil Society', in Political Transition in Afghanistan: The State, Islam and Civil Society (Washington DC: Asia Program Special Report no.122, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2004) pp.9-14.

'Australia's Defence and Strategic Priorities', New Thinking on Defence (Canberra: Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 2004) pp.19-22

'Foreword', in Chris Johnson and Jolyon Leslie, Afghanistan: The Mirage of Peace (London Zed Books, 2004).

'State-Building and Political Development in Afghanistan', in Masako Ishii and Jacqueline A. Siapno (eds), Between Knowledge and Commitment: Post-conflict Peace-building and Reconstruction in Regional Contexts (Osaka: JCAS Symposium Series no.21, Japan Center for Area Studies, National Museum of Ethnology, 2004) pp.165-183

'The Humanitarian Imperative', in Christian Reus-Smit, Marianne Hanson, Hilary Charlesworth, and William Maley, The Challenge of United Nations Reform (Canberra: 'Keynotes' no.5, Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 2004) pp.18-25

'Observing Afghanistan's Presidential Election', Bulletin of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (The Middle East and Central Asia) , vol.11, no.2, 2004, p.3

'The Responsibility to Protect', in The Humanitarian Decade: Challenges for Humanitarian Assistance in the last decade and into the future (New York: Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations, 2004) Vol.I, pp.17-19

2003

'Afghanistan War', 'al-Qaida', and 'Gulf War' in Iain McLean and Alistair McMillan (eds), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (Oxford; Oxford University Press, 2003) pp.5-6, 9-10, 235

'Executive, Legislative, and Electoral Options for Afghanistan', in Afghanistan: Towards a New Constitution (New York: Center on International Cooperation, New York University, 2003) pp.107-111

Afghanistan's political and constitutional development (London: Overseas Development Institute, 2003) (with Chris Johnson, Alexander Thier and Ali Wardak) pp.vi + 48

'Asylum-Seekers in Australia's International Relations', Australian Journal of International Affairs, vol.57, no.1, April 2003, pp.187-202

'A New Tower of Babel? Reappraising the Architecture of Refugee Protection', in Edward Newman and Joanne Van Selm (eds), Refugees and Forced Displacement: International Security, Human Vulnerability, and the State (Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2003) pp.306-329

From Civil Strife to Civil Society: Civil and Military Responsibilities in Disrupted States (Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2003) (with Charles Sampford and Ramesh Thakur, co-editors) pp. x + 369

'Introduction', in William Maley, Charles Sampford and Ramesh Thakur (eds), From Civil Strife to Civil Society: Civil and Military Responsibilities in Disrupted States (Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2003) (with Ramesh Thakur and Charles Sampford) pp.1-13

'Institutional Design and the Rebuilding of Trust', in William Maley, Charles Sampford and Ramesh Thakur (eds), From Civil Strife to Civil Society: Civil and Military Responsibilities in Disrupted States (Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2003) pp.163-179

'Security and Stability in Southwest Asia', in David W. Lovell (ed.), Asia-Pacific Security: Policy Challenges (Singapore: ISEAS, 2003) pp.141-153

'The "War Against Terrorism" in South Asia', Contemporary South Asia , vol.12, no.2, June 2003 pp.203-217

'Afghanistan on the Brink', The Diplomat , vol.2, no.5, December 2003-January 2004, pp.10-11

2002

'A Global Refugee Crisis?', in William Maley, Alan Dupont, Jean-Pierre Fonteyne, Greg Fry, and James Jupp, Refugees and the Myth of the Borderless World (Canberra: 'Keynotes' no.2, Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 2002) pp.1-8

'Reconstituting State Power in Afghanistan', Afghanistan Info, no.50, March 2002, pp.6-8

'Terrorism, Freedom, and Institutions: Reconstructing the State in Afghanistan', Aakrosh: Asian Journal on Terrorism and Internal Conflicts, vol.5, no.15, April 2002, pp.22-36

'Messianism and Political Action: Some Contextual Characteristics', in K.P.S. Gill and Ajai Sahni (eds), The Global Threat of Terror: Ideological, Material and Political Linkages (New Delhi: Bulwark Books, 2002) pp.71-83

'Some Facts about Islam in Afghanistan', The Sydney Papers, vol.14, no.1, Summer 2002, pp.27-31

'The Reconstruction of Afghanistan', in Ken Booth and Tim Dunne (eds), Worlds in Collision: Terror and the Future Global Order (London and New York: Palgrave, 2002) pp.184-193

'Receiving Afghanistan's asylum seekers: Australia, the Tampa "Crisis", and refugee protection', Forced Migration Review, no.13, June 2002, pp. 19-21

'Twelve Theses on the Impact of Humanitarian Intervention', Security Dialogue, vol.33, no.3, September 2002, pp.265-278

The Afghanistan Wars (New York and London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002) pp. x + 340

'The United Nations, NGOs and the land-mines initiative: an Australian Perspective', in Andrew F. Cooper, John English and Ramesh Thakur (eds), Enhancing Global Governance: Towards a New Diplomacy? (Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2002) pp.90-105

'Institutional Design and Regional Autonomy', in Minako Sakai (ed.), Beyond Jakarta: Regional Autonomy and Local Societies in Indonesia (Adelaide: Crawford House Publishing, 2002) pp.15-28

'The Taliban: An Anatomy', Global Dialogue, vol4, no.2, Spring 2002, pp.143-146

'Civil Society and Reconstruction: Some Reflections', Afghanistan Info, no.51, September 2002 (with Amin Saikal) pp.7-8

'1999 Republic Referendum Results: Some Reflections', in John Warhurst and Malcolm Mackerras (eds), Constitutional Politics: The Republic Referendum and the Future (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 2002) pp.89-112 (with Malcolm Mackerras)

'Refugee Policy: Towards a Liberal Framework', Policy, vol.18, no.3 Spring 2002, pp.37-40

'Australian Refugee Policy: Myths and Realities', Social Alternatives, vol.21, no.4, Spring 2002 pp.6-10

'Confronting Creeping Invasions: Afghanistan, the UN and the World Community', in K. Warikoo (ed.), The Afghanistan Crisis: Issues and Perspectives (New Delhi: Bhavana Books, 2002) pp.256-274

2001

'Ethnic Conflict and Nationalism', in William T. Tow and Marianne Hanson (eds.), International Relations in the New Century: An Australian Perspective (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2001) pp.55-72

'Afghanistan', in Joel Krieger (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Politics of the World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) pp.3, 12-13

'Civilian Police in United Nations Peace Operations: Some Lessons from Recent Australian Experience', in Ramesh Thakur and Albrecht Schnabel (eds), United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Ad Hoc Missions, Permanent Engagement (Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2001) pp.182-211 (with John McFarlane)

Afghanistan: Reconstruction and Peacemaking in a Regional Framework (Bern: KOFF Peacebuilding Reports 1/2001, Centre for Peacebuilding, Swiss Peace Foundation, 2001, ISBN 3-908230-47-0) (with Barnett R. Rubin, Ashraf Ghani, Ahmed Rashid and Olivier Roy)

Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban, Second Edition (London: Hurst & Company; New York: New York University Press; 2001) (editor) pp. xviii + 253 (with a new preface). Also re-published as Afghanistan and the Taliban: The rebirth of fundamentalism? (New Delhi: Penguin, 2001) (editor) pp.xviii + 253 (with a new preface)

'Preface: Afghanistan and the Taliban 1998-2001' in William Maley (ed.), Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban (London: Hurst & Company; New York: New York University Press, 2001) pp.v-ix

'Talibanisation and Pakistan', in Talibanisation: Extremism and Regional Instability in South and Central Asia (Berlin: Conflict Prevention Network: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, 2001) pp.53-74

'Moving forward in Afghanistan', in Stuart Harris, William Maley, Richard Price, Christian Reus-Smit, and Amin Saikal, The Day the World Changed? Terrorism and World Order (Canberra: 'Keynotes' no.1, Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 2001) pp.18-24

'Security, People-Smuggling and Australia's New Afghan Refugees', Australian Journal of International Affairs, vol.55, no.3, November 2001, pp.351-370

'Letter to the Editor', British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, vol.28, no.2, November 2001, p.261

2000

'The UN and East Timor', Pacifica Review, vol.12, no.1, February 2000, pp.63-76

The Foreign Policy of the Taliban (New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 2000) pp.iv + 47

'Refugees and Forced Migration as a Security Problem', in William T. Tow, Ramesh Thakur and In Taek Hyun (eds.), Asia's Emerging Regional Order: Reconciling 'Traditional' and 'Human' Security (Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2000) pp.142-156

'Australia and the East Timor Crisis: Some Critical Comments', Australian Journal of International Affairs, vol.54, no.2, July 2000, pp.151-161

'Australia's New Afghan Refugees', Afghanistan Info, no.47, September 2000, pp.15-17