Afghanistan
Enjoy your stay
J. Malcolm Garcia writes a lengthy piece in the Virginia Quarterly Review about his recent return to Afghanistan and his impressions since he was last there in October, 2004. The Spin Ghar hotel in Jalalabad, a popular hangout for ex-Taliban commanders, offered a warm welcome.
Carsten Thomassen killed at the Serena
The gunfire and bomb blasts that rocked the only luxury hotel in Kabul yesterday killed Norwegian journalist Carsten Thomassen. He wrote for the Oslo newspaper Dagbladet. He was reporting on the visit of Jonas Gahr Støre, the Norwegian Foreign Minister. The International federation of Journalists condemns the attack, “This attack shows that Afghanistan is one […]
4 million bullets
The Ministry of Defence revises original figures of bullets used by British troops in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The real number, circa-4 million bullets, is almost double the original estimate, “These new figures illustrate the intensity of fighting our troops face. It does call into question Des Browne’s judgment that the Taliban poses no strategic threat […]
Ross Kemp in Helmand
Ex-soap star Ross Kemp heads to Helmand in a new five-part series. The Guardian has a trailer for the series and background on Organ Grinder, “During one engagement between B Company and the Taliban, we were pinned down by enemy fire in open ground,” he says. “Bullets fizzed inches from our heads, hitting the ground […]
John D. McHugh on the BBC
Frontline club member, photographer, occasional club speaker and sniper bullet survivor John D.McHugh is back in Afghanistan and he’s interviewed about his return on this week’s BBC Radio Pods & Blogs show. You can listen to the show here or, go one better, and subscribe to the excellent podcast. The show has some Frontline club […]
Shanker gets frisked in Kabul
Thom Shanker, Washington Correspondent for the New York Times, relates three tales of his recent blast through Djibouti, Afghanistan, Iraq and Bahrain on the trail of US Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates, Outside the palace walls, correspondents went through metal detectors, and had their backpacks searched — that’s routine. But heavily armed security guards also […]
Working in the Korengal valley
In the latest edition of Vanity Fair, Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington talk about working on a story from the Korengal Valley frontline in Afghanistan. The duo were embedded with Second Platoon for ABC News.
At War
[video:youtube:iEVmbED4_0U] At War, a film by Scott Kesterson embedded with Army National Guard 41st Brigade, is due out in 2008 and this is the third trailer – via Afghanistanica
War News Radio
All the wars, all of the time. Well OK, some of the wars, some of the time. War News Radio reports on and from Afghanistan and Iraq and is cobbled together by students at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. The weekly 29-minute programme is free to listen to. The station aims to shed light on, [the] […]
Conquer or die
[video:youtube:VpBeRvhRTw4&eurl] Afghan Knights – “Conquer or die” – Oh dear, oh weary, weary dear… This straight to video crapfest depicts the war in Afghanistan. For value added super realism it is filmed in Kamloops, British Columbia in a country called Canada. “Exotic” Kamloops, as Afghanistanica calls it, is approximately 6524.398 miles from Kabul according to […]
3 Para
British Paras are renowned more for prowess on the battlefield than media savvy. However, that reputation may need to be revised with the publication of 3 Para by Patrick Bishop. This book is an account of 3 Para Battle Group’s tour in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, last year. Throughout their six months on the ground, […]
“Growing up fast”
Ben Anderson hits Helmand for the Daily Mail, As a BBC foreign correspondent, I’ve visited most of the world’s war zones – Iraq, Gaza, Congo and many more – but nothing prepared me for what I found when I flew into Kandahar airport to join up with a unit of the First Battalion Grenadier Guards […]
Excerpts from the sandbox
This week Slate publish excerpts from a series of stories from the frontlines of Iraq and Afghanistan. The snippets are taken from the Sandbox blog which is a collaboration between Doonesbury creator G.B. Trudeau and editor David Stanford. The blog is a mix of opium, bullets and dangerous encounters along with insights into the daily […]
Women of Courage – Intimate Stories from Afghanistan
Above all other countries, because of its long conflict since 1979, longer than the lives of many of those now reporting it, Afghanistan has faced several different generations of reporters. They tend to see the country through the prism of the first campaign they were in, a narrow frame of reference, with few shades of […]
Barbi in a burqa
Looking for something for the little ones? The perfect Kabul keepsake – Barbi in a Burqa. Not from Kabul, from California. via Afghanistanica. if you’re into dogs more than kids, how about a dog burqa. Big in NYC I’m hearing,
What it’s like to be in a firefight
John D McHugh was shot in Afghanistan and was lucky to survive. He talked at the Frontline Club about his experience working as a photographer in Afghanistan. Today, on his blog, he retells the story he wrote from his hospital bed, So, here it is. This is the account I wrote of the 14 May […]
Newsnight – report from Sangin valley, Helmand, Afghanistan
This is the full 16 minute documentary that originally aired on BBC Newsnight on 26 September, 2007. It’s available for download on Google Video. My original text from the evening that I returned from Sangin: I have been out on operations with Colour Sergeant Jim Bastin of the Inkerman Company and a platoon of the […]
In the Press Gazette
Vaughan is interviewed in the Press Gazette this week about the hows, whys and history of frontline journalism, “When we started off we wanted to have complete independence, we were paying for our own trips and we were risking our lives as well as our livelihoods but there was a problem – the only place […]
Afghanistan Newsnight website
You can view the 16 minute Newsnight documentary on the Newsnight website for, I think, three days. We’ll post the entire film on the blog, on YouTube and Brightcove as soon as we can. Meanwhile, take a minute to peruse the Newsnight Afghanistan page for related video, interviews and links to Flickr, Google Maps and […]
Pre-Newsnight showing build up
The Newsnight film shows in half an hour – and just in case you’re still tuned in here – there’s a bit more background and preamble on the BBC Newsnight website, Twenty years ago I left the Grenadier Guards to become a freelance cameraman. Three months later I was in Southern Afghanistan filming Afghans shelling […]
Interview with Brigadier John Lorimer
[video:youtube:QGf7fY98RhM] As promised earlier, here is an interview with Brigadier John Lorimer, the Brigade Commander of 12 Brigade, currently in Helmand.
16 Minute Film on BBC Newsnight Tonight
Tonight is the night: 10.30pm on BBC 2. BBC Newsnight plan to show my 16 minute film. I could get bumped off by a major news event and if this happens it should then appear tomorrow night. The film might get picked up by BBC World and shown internationally. The 16 minute film was shot […]
Bushmungus
Do insurgents inhale? I really wouldn’t know, but they would appear to have plenty of opportunity should the need arise.
Owning up to war
Since leaving them 20 years ago I have always wanted to film my old army regiment, the Grenadier Guards, on operations and I have just returned from staying with them in Helmand, in southern Afghanistan, where they have been involved in intense fighting. It was not my first attempt at filming the Grenadiers in action. […]
Back in Britain with a Bag of Video Tapes
Sadly my time is up with the British Army in Afghanistan. There are lots of journalists who want the space and I will have to wait my turn to come back. I tried to get back to Kabul in time for my scheduled flight to London’s Heathrow, but this wasn’t possible so I ended up […]
Axe at war
While googling around for a half decent link for David Axe in the last post, I came across this comic strip, one of 19 based on ‘the Axe’ experience of war reporting. Axe blogs at the honestly titled War is boring.
Vaughan talks…
…from Afghanistan, in between mortars, machine gun fire and RPGs on BBC Radio 5’s non too shoddy Pods and Blogs show. Well worth a listen. There is plenty of discussion on how people report from Afghanistan and Iraq with war reporter David Axe. Get yourself a cuppa tea and listen in here.
Dessert warfare
Vaughan’s chocolate bar chronicles spill over onto the Observer Food Monthly blog, The bigger question is, which minion in which ministry dreamt up this disaster in desert dining? Where’s your all-weather food; your dried fruit, dried meat, nuts, oatcakes and wotnot? The Ministry of Defence website tells us: “Thankfully the selection of dishes on the […]
Vaughan does Auntie
Vaughan gets picked up by the BBC’s excellent Pods & Blogs show. Producer Chris Vallance spoke to Vaughan today and we hope to hear his master’s dulcit tones on the show next week, I’ve just spoken with Vaughan about the embed and his decision to blog, vlog and twitter. His YouTube videos highlight the intensity […]