Afghanistan: Jun ‘08

June was the most difficult month that IWPR Afghanistan has faced for quite some time.

First and foremost, our colleague and friend, Abdul Samad Rohani, was murdered in Helmand. The IWPR team tried to put aside their shock and grief to produce a tribute to Rohani, along with details of his kidnapping and death, Murdered Reporter Leaves Lasting Legacy and Few Clues to Helmand Journalist’s Killers.

Most of the IWPR trainees in Helmand reiterated their commitment to their profession, despite the danger. Still, it is clear that security has deteriorated significantly since IWPR was last able to go to Helmand in February.

Helmand journalists are facing severe obstacles in trying to bring news out to the rest of the world. Most have been threatened; some are in hiding. The news has slowed to a trickle. Within the next few months, IWPR will be working with other media organisations to see what can be dome to make Helmand’s journalists safer, and allow them to continue their groundbreaking work.

Another major blow for IWPR was the June 15 trial of Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, in which the court left little doubt that it considered the 23-year-old journalism student guilty of the crimes he is alleged to have committed.

Following an intensive campaign by international human rights and journalists’ associations, most observers thought that Kambkahsh would be released once the Kabul Appellate Court heard his case. Instead, the trial has dragged on for several months, leaving Kambakhsh in prison and the international community bewildered by the turn of events.

Kambakhsh’s brother, Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, has continued his stellar reporting for IWPR. In June, he produced an investigative report on a drug-for-arms market in Badakhshan, Turning Afghan Heroin into Kalshnikovs.

Yaqub also traveled to Germany in June to participate in a debate on Afghanistan in Hamburg. On the podium with Yaqub were former defence minister Peter Struck and Hamburg mayor Henning Voscherau, who used the opportunity to debate the wisdom of Germany’s continued presence in Afghanistan.

In addition, IWPR produced a special report on the debate over constructive engagement with insurgents, Growing Support for Taleban Talks.

Many Afghanistan analysts are coming to the realisation that the problems that the foreign community faces here do not have a military solution. In fact, some are suggesting that the current policy is making things worse instead of better. IWPR’s Caroline Tosh in London, along with local editor Hafizullah Gardesh in Kabul, interviewed several experts, most of whom agreed that some form of negotiation with the Taleban was inevitable.