Career
Lynden began his journalism career in 1979 at the Haagsche Courant. In September 1980 he was one of the few Western journalists in Iraq when Saddam Hussein"s attack on Iran opened. After this he worked as a freelance for British Broadcasting Corporation Radio, The Observer and The Washington Post.
He then invested much time and energy in the antiSoviet Resistance in Afghanistan.
In 1982 he became The Observer correspondent in Beirut, where he was a journalist covering the civil war in Lebanon and other regional conflicts. After moving to London he became involved in setting up the 24-hour news channel BSkyB. He would remain active over thirteen years.
First as an anchor (presenter) and then as a senior foreign correspondent. In that role he covered among others the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan, the Romanian Revolution in 1989, the Gulf War in 1990-1991, the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the Palestinian Intifada.
From 2002 to mid-2008 he was professor of communication and journalism associated with the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG) in Blagoevgrad.
He has also lectured at the John Cabot University in Rome, Italy, but is now a lecturer at Leiden University College The Hague. Private Aernout van Lynden was married to diplomat Henriette van Lynden-Leijten, who died in November 2010. They have three daughters: Joanna, Aurelia and Emilia.