Luke Hunt

Luke Hunt began his career in journalism in the mid-1980s while traveling through what was then some of the world’s trouble spots, including Northern Ireland and the south of Morocco. Initially, Hunt worked for Australian Associated Press and then Agence France-Presse where he served as bureau chief in Afghanistan and Cambodia and was the first journalist to file Baghdad with the US marines in 2003. He also covered the war in the Middle East, Sri Lanka and Kashmir, and focussed on counter-terrorism and conflicts in Southeast Asia. He is the author of the Punji Trap: The Spy Who Didn't Love Us and co-authored Barings Lost. Hunt has written for The Diplomat, The Economist, The Washington Times, Voice of America, The New York Times and The Associated Press. He writes regular commentaries UCAsia News and appears often on radio in his native Australia and in Hong Kong.

Hunt was personally commended for his coverage of the Afghan civil war by the UN Special Envoy for Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi and his work has been honored by the World Association of Newspapers and the Society of Publishers in Asia. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters of Defence from Deakin University and until recently was an Academic Program Professor at Pannasastra University in Cambodia where he wrote the course War, Media and International Relations.