Bernard-Henri Lévy

In February 2002, at the request of French President Jacques Chirac, the Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and the Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine, Bernard-Henri Lévy is sent to Afghanistan to study the possible French contributions to the reconstruction of the liberated country. Upon his return, Lévy presents his findings to the President and to the Prime Minister, later jointly published by La Documentation Française and Grasset.

In May, he is awarded the Prix Aujourd’hui for his book Réflexions sur la Guerre, le Mal et la fin de l’Histoire [Reflections on War, Evil, and the End of History]. Another prestigious honour is accorded him, this time in Israel: the Doctorat Honoris Causa from the University of Tel Aviv.

In September, with the support of the Fondation André Lévy – created in memory of his father – BHL founds and directs the French-language monthly Les Nouvelles de Kaboul. At the same time, under the auspices of the same Fondation André Lévy, he founds Radio Renaissance et Citoyenneté in cooperation with David Gakunzi, thereby striving to create the antithesis of the Hutu-led, anti-Tutsi, “hate media” Radio-Television Mille Collines. Also thanks to the Fondation André Lévy and under the direction of his friends at the time of the war in Bosnia, Susan et Samir Landzo, is born the Kids Festival of Sarajevo which undertakes to reconstruct, through its children, the Bosnian society which was torn apart by war, massacres, and vengefulness.