Palwasha Tokhi, a radio journalist and a student, was killed by unknown attackers in Mazar-i-Sharif. Killings of journalists are common.
Ms. Tokhi was the second radio journalist killed in Mazar-i-Sharif this year. Most of the killings of Afghan journalists have taken place in the provinces and most of the killings are unsolved.
“Since 2001, more than 40 journalists have been killed in Afghanistan, and none of the cases have been followed by the judicial system of Afghanistan,” said Abdul Mujeeb Khelwatgar, executive director of Nai. “This has made all the people behind the killings and violence against journalists brave enough to think they could do anything against journalists.”
Mr. Khelwatgar said that Afghanistan’s journalists had improved professionally, which has made them more likely to undertake investigative reporting and report on corruption, angering powerful local figures. And the withdrawal of American and NATO forces from much of the country has also emboldened would-be attackers of journalists, he said.
Journalists are generally more likely to be attacked by pro-government than by antigovernment forces, according to Nai’s data.
In Brutal Year for News Media in Afghanistan, a 7th Journalist Is Killed, New York Times
“State of Affairs” will be a television show, on NBC, in November. Katherine Heigl will play a CIA analyst who gathers intelligence for the president’s daily briefing.
In a publicity photo for the show, posted to facebook, the fictional CIA intelligence briefer mixes up Kabul and Baghdad.
All Katherine Heigl wanted to do was share how crazy it was that the “State of Affairs” set dressers made the California city of Santa Clarita look just like the Afghanistan capital of Kabul. Just one problem: if the posters visible behind the actress are any indication, the fake city is actually in Iraq.
The lowest row of posters use the Iraqi flag as a background, which was a dead giveaway for many on Facebook that maybe something was a little off here.
Either Kabul’s streets are covered with Iraqi flags, or Katherine Heigl is wrong about this set location, Washington Post
The Iraqi flags on the posters in the photo, confused for Afghan flags, come from the Saddam Hussein era.
The Britain First party, and Australian Senator Jacqui Lambie, posted a photo to facebook, showing the dangers posed by extremists wearing burkas.
The photo is actually of Malalai Kakar, an Afghan National Police officer, who was assassinated by the Taliban in 2008.
A U.S. judge has ordered deported an Afghan doctor living in Philadelphia, for ties to the Afghan terrorist group Hezb-i-Islami.
In court Friday, Dawari admitted that he had long-standing ties to the terrorist group Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin. Prosecutors have described the group as "a virulently anti-Western insurgent group active in Afghanistan and Pakistan."
Afghan doctor with ties to terrorist group to be deported, Philadelphia Inquirer
U.S. diplomats met in Kabul with the Abdullah Abdullah campaign, which has Mohammad Khan, of the Afghan mujahideen group Hezb-i-Islami, as its vice presidential candidate.
The Hezb-i-Islami Councils Alliance has called on Abdullah to accept the results of the presidential election.
The Hezb-e-Islami Councils Alliance (HICA) on Saturday called on presidential candidate Dr. Abdullah Abdullah to accept the presidential election results.
Hezb-e-Islami Councils Alliance (HICA) supporters gathered in capital Kabul on Saturday and insisted that the runoff vote results should be released without any further delay.
HICA supporters called on Dr. Abdullah to accept election results and warned that they will not remain silent if Dr. Abdullah’s camp oppose with the poll results.
Hezb-e-Islami faction wants Dr. Abdullah to accept election results, Khaama Press
Juma Khan Hamdard, governor of Paktia Province, a Hezb-i-Islami warlord, and an Ashraf Ghani supporter, has countered the threats of violence from Atta Mohammad Noor, governor of Balkh province, a Jamiat-i-Islami warlord, and an Abdullah Abdullah supporter, with threats of violence.
Earlier this month, Atta Mohammad Noor, a key Abdullah ally who is governor of the northern province of Balkh, warned of sweeping street protests if the talks failed to produce a satisfactory outcome. On Monday, Juma Khan Hamdard, governor of Paktia province in the east, who supports Ghani, warned against attempts at destabilizing the country.
“We want to clarify that we are not pro-crisis but if some people intend not to accept the final results and attempt to push Afghanistan towards crisis, we are ready to defend our votes at any cost,” Hamdard said in a statement.
Fears of unrest cloud Afghanistan as election dispute drags on, Los Angeles Times
Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf, an Ittehad-e Islami warlord, an Abdullah Abdullah supporter, and the guy who brought Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan, took a hard line against the Taliban.
Professor Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf, a prominent religious cleric and former jihadi leader, once again took a hard stance against the Taliban militants and challenged their ongoing armed campaign.
Sayyaf was speaking during the commemoration ceremony to mark the 3rd death anniversary of former president and high peace council chief Burhanuddin Rabbani.
He criticized the Taliban group for their armed campaign against the Afghan forces and government and said Taliban are carrying out brutal attacks in the name of Islam.
Sayyaf calls killers of Afghan forces and Jihadi leaders ‘infidels’, Khaama Press
Aggressiveness in the war against the Taliban is a key political difference between the Abdullah and Ghani campaigns.
Talk about Afghanistan often places a high focus on ethnic division. Afghanistan Analysts Network warns about the dangers of this.
Pashtun, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks and others are often spoken of in very generalised terms and stereotypes of dubious accuracy. A range of actors (journalists, analysts, foreign military, etc) deploy ethnic stereotyping of behaviour or assumed behaviour based on lack of knowledge.
The Study and Understudy of Afghanistan’s Ethnic Groups: What we know – and don’t know, Afghanistan Analysts Network
Talking of ethnicity in very generalized terms, and using ethnic stereotypes of dubious accuracy, is probably not a good idea.
NPR reports a success story. They had a fire. And the fire department came to put it out.
It must have started, we think, when our aging generator caught fire. The flames don't even flinch at the spray of our household fire extinguishers.
But within minutes of calling 119, a platoon of Afghan firefighters arrives in a shiny red fire truck, connects a hose and douses the flames.
Not Every Afghan Institution Is Efficient; This One Is, NPR
Commenters say that a portion of the NPR story has now been deleted.
"Some naughty women are calling and saying, 'Hey, the valley of wool caught fire. I'm very hot and about to explode,' " he says.
Results of the internationally supervised vote audit are expected to be released tomorrow.
Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) has said the final results of the country's disputed presidential election will be announced on September 21 following a weeks-long audit for fraudulent votes.
Spokesman Noor Muhammad Noor said on September 20 that the "IEC will officially announce the final result of the presidential election tomorrow."
Afghan Election Results To Be Announced On September 21, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Abdullah Abdullah would rather have the audit results kept secret.
After months of negotiations over the disputed election, the final sticking point is the insistence by Abdullah Abdullah, who is expected to be the loser, that he will agree on the formation of a national unity government only if election authorities do not publicly disclose their now-completed final tally.
Mr. Abdullah contends that the recent audit of the fraud-ridden election could not possibly detect all the fake ballots, so the final result should not be announced despite the legal requirement to do so.
New Wrinkle in Afghan Vote That’s Been Anything but Smooth, New York Times
Not announcing election results is like democracy and stuff.