Abdi Garad, PhD

A researcher focusing on state-building interventions and the associated security complexities of the HoA. Reposting does not mean an endorsement.

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

Michigan, are you fired up and ready to vote? Watch to hear why you should elect @JocelynBenson, @AbdulElSayed, and Democrats across the ballot. https://t.co/nemO5z8EJZ

[Abdi Garad, PhD @agaraad]

@EIshmael_ @HalimaAIGutale He was caught red-handed. Too bad for @honsanyare.

[Abdi Garad, PhD @agaraad]

@irro_abdul I’m humbled 🙏

[Abdi Garad, PhD @agaraad]

12/12
Bottom line: a mature Somali historiography should recognise the Kacaan's achievements without excusing its abuses, and acknowledge the opposition's grievances without romanticising its conduct.

[Abdi Garad, PhD @agaraad]

6/12
The review notes the editorial’s intellectual honesty: it took courage for a Puntland-based outlet to scrutinise the SSDF, a movement with deep legitimacy in the very region where it's best known. It's easier to criticise distant rivals than your own tradition.

[Abdi Garad, PhD @agaraad]

11/12
The essay's critiques are that it has no named author, should distinguish more clearly among the SSDF, SNM, and USC, and should trace how sympathetic Western and diaspora narratives took hold.

[Abdi Garad, PhD @agaraad]

5/12
The essay's biggest contribution is examining insurgent conduct: abuses against civilians and cooperation with Ethiopian forces during 1980s incursions into Somali territory. A legitimate grievance doesn't legitimise every alliance or method.

[Abdi Garad, PhD @agaraad]

3/12
The Kacaan's behaviours are well documented. But the SSDF, SNM and USC have been romanticised and often carried the moral prestige of "resistance." At the same time, their violence, foreign alliances and role in Somalia's fragmentation got far less attention.

[Abdi Garad, PhD @agaraad]

4/12
The credit of the essay is that it does not reduce its analysis to individuals. It focuses on the Kacaan's real achievements, including the 1972 standard Somali script, literacy campaigns, education, social reform, and national institutions.

[Abdi Garad, PhD @agaraad]

2/12
On the anniversary of 21 October, I review PUNT NEWS's essay on the Somali Revolution (Kacaan). Its core argument is that Somalia's history has applied uneven scrutiny to the government and to the armed movements that fought it.

[Abdi Garad, PhD @agaraad]

Reassessing the Somali Revolution: Historical Proportionality, Selective Accountability and the Politics of Insurgency.

👇🏾
https://t.co/8fewAMiAO2
–PUNT NEWS Thread 🧵 1/12

[Abdi Garad, PhD @agaraad]

@EIshmael_ @EU_in_Somalia @UKinSomalia @US_SrAdvisorAF @UNSomalia Somalis say it all—ceeb looma dhinto.

[Abdi Garad, PhD @agaraad]

@AwHirsiSO @alihwarsame Today I learned a Somali proverb—ninna mayd lama dagaalamo: no one fights a corpse. It aptly frames why Trump is fighting with Somalis: waa dad nool—active and spiritually consequential souls.

[Abdi Garad, PhD @agaraad]

@EIshmael_ Pretty well-balanced piece.

[Abdi Garad, PhD @agaraad]

@MohamoudGaildon @Ayaan @IlhanMN Trying hard to fit in.

[UK House of Commons @HouseofCommons]

Earlier today, the new Member of Parliament for Holborn and St Pancras, Sagal Abdi-Wali was sworn in and introduced to @commonsspeaker.

After a by-election, the elected MP must swear in before they can take their seat in the House of Commons.