From the Frontline
"If I can turn the light on, I've still got my arms"
In Kabul last week, an American friend working there as a freelance journalist told me he’d dreamed the night before that his arms had been blown off. John Wendle said he’d woken up in a terrified sweat and turned...
Time to fly a kite for Afghanistan's future
The glass encrusted string of a cheap paper kite sliced chunks of flesh out of my fingers when I tried Afghanistan’s national sport on a recent windy Friday in Kabul. Like much of what goes on in Afghanistan, kite flying...
Afghanistan: once again the saddest place on earth
The siege of Qala-I-Jangi on the outskirts of Mazar-i-Sharif in late November 2001 resulted in one of the most horrific war atrocities of the modern age. The massacre raised questions about the commitment of Afghanistan’s new rulers and their international...
Ten years after 9/11, from pre-emptive attack to liberal interventionism
I was on a train in northwest China, from Urumqi, provincial capital of Xinjiang, to the oasis town of Kashgar when the atrocities of 9-11 happened ten years ago. The region borders largely Islamic Central Asia -- including Pakistan and...
Afghan transition: Just another word for nothing left to lose?
Afghanistan appears on the verge of collapse. The prospect of civil war looms.Political gridlock; the impending collapse of the banking system; falling currency and property values; endemic corruption; capital flight; frozen aid funding; escalating insurgent attacks; ethnic groups planning to...
For Afghan first nephews, US passports are ticket out of chaos
The assassination of Ahmad Wali Karzai, the Afghan president’s half-brother, has dealt a huge blow to transition plans and is likely to lead to major power struggles across the country’s south as rival clans fight to fill the power vacuum...
Hacking scandal will bring seismic change to British media
Britain’s media industry is about to undergo seismic change. The implications of the latest revelations about journalists hacking telephone voicemail systems have clearly shown that the country’s famously feisty and fiercely independent news outlets are incapable of self regulation.Senior executives...
Afghan free media is a matter of time, says one who should know
Afghanistan’s media industry is one of the youngest and most vibrant in the world, having burst into life to fill the vacuum left just 10 years ago by the demise of the Taliban. From a country without music or movies,...
Australian media access to Afghan mission vital for understanding
It’s been a bad year for the Australian military fighting in Afghanistan. Three soldiers were killed in May, another in early June, bringing the total to 27 since Australia committed troops to the coalition that invaded Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in 2001.The...
Frontline: reporting from the world's deadliest places
A newly revised and updated edition of Frontline by David Loyn was published this week. The acclaimed book chronicles the work of the Frontline news agency, founded by journalists Rory Peck, Peter Jouvenal, Vaughan Smith and Nicholas Della Casa. First...
From the Frontline:
Stories and analysis from journalists around the world and insight into the world of foreign correspondents, war reporters, life on...