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Story Publication logo November 8, 2010

Afghan journalist detained in Kandahar

Country:

Afghanistan

Author:

Kathleen Flynn
Grantee

SECTIONS

Sunrise in Kandahar, Afghanistan, the spiritual capital of the Taliban, where NATO troops stepped up attacks on insurgents this fall in an attempt to turn the tide of the war. With international forces, tribal leaders, drug lords and Taliban commanders all vying to control the narrative, southern Afghanistan is one of the most perilous and difficult places for Afghan reporters to cover. “Journalism here is like sticking your hand between open power lines,” said Fazel Rehman, president of the Kandahar Press Club and a reporter for the Voice of America’s Pashto service. “If you touch them, you will be shocked.” Image by Kathleen Flynn, Afghanistan, 2010.

Mohammad Nader, a cameraman for Al Jazeera, heads out of the Kandahar Press Club to report a story about unemployment, which fuels the Taliban insurgency. In September, a few days after Afghanistan’s parliamentary election, Nader was taken from his home in the middle of the night by soldiers from NATO’s International Security Assistance Force and held for three days on suspicion of serving as a Taliban propagandist. Nader denies aiding the insurgents. “They arrested me because I was talking to the Taliban,” Nader said. “I told them, ‘Everybody is talking to the Taliban.'' Image by Kathleen Flynn, Afghanistan, 2010.

Shortly after Nader’s release from NATO custody, he traveled to Arghandab, a dangerous district north of Kandahar, to film the pomegranate harvest. Here, film he recorded on that trip plays on a colleague’s computer. While Nader was filming the farmers, an American patrol passed, and he joined the soldiers and filmed them walking through the fields. “To me, the important thing is to get accurate and reliable sources due to the rules of journalism,” Nader said. “I’m not a judge to decide what’s good or bad.” Image by Kathleen Flynn, Afghanistan, 2010.

With his 4-year-old daughter, Sumaiya, nearby, Nader describes the night he was arrested by coalition forces, who scaled the wall of his home while he and his family slept. NATO said that intelligence linked Nader to insurgent propaganda networks. Al Jazeera Kabul bureau chief Samer Allawi acknowledged that Nader made a judgment error in his reporting, but criticized NATO’s tactics. “The kids were scared and my family was shocked,” Nader said. “Why not go to the Al Jazeera office? Why not complain to them?” Image by Kathleen Flynn, Afghanistan, 2010.

Nader's 16-month-old son, Rashad, clings to him while Nader’s mother walks into the room at their home in the upscale Kandahar neighborhood of Aynomina. While Nader was in custody, Afghan journalists came to interview his family. As one of the visiting cameramen was leaving, Rashad tried to follow him out the gate, apparently mistaking him for his father. Image by Kathleen Flynn, Afghanistan, 2010.

Nader's sister, who has suffered for years from anxiety and depression, lies on the floor of a room in their home in Kandahar. On the night Nader was detained, she was so disturbed that she couldn’t stop crying. Nader is his family’s sole provider, supporting not only his wife and two children but also his mother and sister, whose condition has worsened since his arrest. She stopped eating, has trouble sleeping and fights with her mother. Image by Kathleen Flynn, Afghanistan, 2010.

Nader's mother cries while recounting the details of her son’s arrest. A widowed single parent for most of Nader’s childhood, she supported him and his siblings by working as a cook and cleaner in Pakistan. After Nader was detained, his mother fasted and prayed for his release. “I went out into the street and prayed to God to bring him back,” she said. “But I didn’t think I would see him alive again.” Image by Kathleen Flynn, Afghanistan, 2010.

Nader's mother carries his son through a doorway at their home. Several weeks after his release, Nader’s children still have trouble sleeping. They get nervous if their mother gets up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Image by Kathleen Flynn, Afghanistan, 2010.

Nader plays with his children in the courtyard of his home. He says that they were constantly on his mind during his three nights of detention. “We have a government in Afghanistan that’s corrupt, but I trust your system,” Nader says he told his American interrogators. “If you tell me I did something wrong, punish me. If not, let me go back to my kids and my journalist friends.” Image by Kathleen Flynn, Afghanistan, 2010.

A woman in a burqa walks past the Kandahar Press Club. Afghan journalists say that even human interest stories are difficult to report here, in part because the role of journalists in Afghan society remains poorly understood. “Ordinary people don’t have any idea who journalists are and what they’re doing,” said Humayoun Shoaib, a correspondent for VOA and Agence France Presse. “Working in Kandahar, it’s not helping a journalist get more experienced. Day after day, his knowledge is getting decreased, he’s getting more illiterate.” Image by Kathleen Flynn, Afghanistan, 2010.

With international forces, tribal leaders, drug lords and Taliban commanders all vying to control the narrative, southern Afghanistan is one of the most perilous and difficult places for Afghan reporters to cover. "Journalism here is like sticking your hand between open power lines," said Fazel Rehman, president of the Kandahar Press Club and a reporter for the Voice of America's Pashto service. "If you touch them, you will be shocked.""