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To Boston From Kabul With Love
(Photo Courtesy Beth Murphy / Principle Pictures)
KABUL – After more than three decades of war, you would think Afghans would be desensitized to violent attacks like the Boston Marathon explosion. A Boston-based documentary filmmaker found just the opposite.
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Pakistan’s Taliban, one of the world’s most feared militant groups, are preparing for a leadership change that could mean less violence against the state but more attacks against U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, Pakistani military sources said.
Hakimullah Mehsud, a ruthless commander who has led the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for the last three years, has lost operational control of the movement and the trust of his fighters, said a senior Pakistan army official based in the South Waziristan tribal region, the group’s stronghold.
The organization’s more moderate deputy leader, Wali-ur-Rehman, 40, is poised to succeed Mehsud, whose extreme violence has alienated enough of his fighters to significantly weaken him, the military sources told Reuters.
“Rehman is fast emerging as a consensus candidate to formally replace Hakimullah,” said the army official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. “Now we may see the brutal commander replaced by a more pragmatic one for whom reconciliation with the Pakistani government has become a priority.”
EXCLUSIVE: New Pakistan Taliban chief emerging, will focus on Afghan fight
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Pakistani politician Imran Kahn, a vocal critic of U.S. drone strikes, was briefly delayed and questioned by U.S. immigration officials in Toronto before being allowed to board a flight to New York, prompting his party to demand an apology from Washington.
Khan told his followers on Twitter that he was detained and interrogated Friday about his views on drones.
READ ON: U.S. officials pull Pakistani politician off plane -
INTERACTIVE Media landscape of Afghanistan: penetration of radio, TV, mobile along with literacy rates
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No one asked their names.
In the days following the rogue US soldier’s shooting spree in Kandahar, most of the media, us included, focused on the “backlash” and how it might further strain the relations with the US.
Many mainstream media outlets channelled a significant amount of energy into uncovering the slightest detail about the accused soldier – now identified as Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. We even know where his wife wanted to go for vacation, or what she said on her personal blog.
But the victims became a footnote, an anonymous footnote. Just the number 16. No one bothered to ask their ages, their hobbies, their aspirations. Worst of all, no one bothered to ask their names.
In honoring their memory, I write their names below, and the little we know about them: that nine of them were children, three were women.
The dead:
Mohamed Dawood son of Abdullah
Khudaydad son of Mohamed Juma
Nazar Mohamed
Payendo
Robeena
Shatarina daughter of Sultan Mohamed
Zahra daughter of Abdul Hamid
Nazia daughter of Dost Mohamed
Masooma daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Farida daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Palwasha daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Nabia daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Esmatullah daughter of Mohamed Wazir
Faizullah son of Mohamed Wazir
Essa Mohamed son of Mohamed Hussain
Akhtar Mohamed son of Murrad Ali
The wounded:
Haji Mohamed Naim son of Haji Sakhawat
Mohamed Sediq son of Mohamed Naim
Parween
Rafiullah
Zardana
ZulhejaA prayer for all sixteen martyrs. May their souls rest in peace and may justice be served one day, some day. Amin.
I’d like to see less stories about the shooter and more about the people whose lives he took.
(Source: aljazeera.com)
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Tweeting a War: How One Journalist Is Using Twitter in Afghanistan
Kazemi’s coverage provides a window into Afghanistan from a native writer’s eyes that simply can’t be matched by foreign writers. He manages this all while building an online following and readership the way any web-savvy journalist would: through interaction and engagement. He’s got just less than 3,000 followers, but that number’s going up every day. Kazemi makes it a point to respond to his Twitter followers, providing his views on the Afghani news of the day.
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Here’s my interview with Dan Rather.
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This video by Reuters photographer Finbarr O’Reilly was featured on Reuters Photographers Blog about the same time last year, documenting the U.S. First Battalion Eighth Marines in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, including squad leader Sgt. Thomas James Brennan.
In today’s New York Times Lens Blog, Sgt. Thomas James Brennan discusses how he was at first skeptical about Finbarr being embedded in his squad, but his attitude evolved over time.
Through his photos and articles, Finbarr O’Reilly told my story and the stories of my Marines. By doing so, he helped me find my door. For this, I will forever be grateful.
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Afghanistan – touch down in flight from Augustin Pictures on Vimeo.
As each of us has his own impression of Afghanistan that is predominantly marked with pictures of foreign forces, explosions and terror, we were privileged to have access to capture daily life and portrait some people of Afghanistan.
We hope the pictures you know will merge with the pictures you see and will enrich your view on the country in the Hindu Kush.
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