Afghanistan
Close call
Click the image above to see the slideshow from Helmand province in Afghanistan via David Viggars
Flying low
John D. McHugh’s latest installment in The Guardian today details his move to an outpost of Speray in Khowst province about 900 metres from the Pakistan border I managed to get the back seat, the one that photographers always want. This is because in a Chinook there is a rear ramp, and as the pilots […]
John D. McHugh in the Guardian
I’m reliably informed Frontline Club member John D. McHugh has a big spread in the Guardian newspaper tomorrow. The piece will run online too, but it might be worth grabbing the papier mache version if you have access to a newstand near you. A wee bit of background, courtesy of the Guardian, for those of […]
The diary of John D. McHugh
More from our man in Afghanistan. Actually, the Guardian’s paying for his tea and biscuits and not us. However, he is the winner of the inaugural Frontline Club Award for Journalism and that’s good enough for this blog. John D. McHugh’s latest update for his Guardian diary is now live and it appears IT is […]
Michael Bhatia remembered
Michael Bhatia was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on May 7. He was an American academic who was sent to Afghanistan to help the US military understand the country’s customs in what are known (rather inhumanely) as “human terrain teams”. He took pictures and wrote about his time there. The Globalist is republishing […]
Mark Urban’s brush with a suicide bomber
Mark Urban talks on the BBC Radio From our own correspondent programme about how he came to meet a suicide bomber in Afghanistan, When we arranged to meet a suicide bomber, we did not expect one wearing his bomb vest, all set to blow himself up outside the building in Kabul where we were filming. […]
Back in Afghanistan
Frontline Club member John D. McHugh is back in Afghanistan. As revealed on this blog a wee while back, he is working for The Guardian. He’ll be producing six films, taking pictures, writing stories and updating his blog. To kick things off, the newspaper has published edited highlights from his blog, along with pictures and […]
Been in Afghanistan too long?
[video:youtube:Jev5YJWJv0o] Michael Tomberlin lists ten telltale warning signs you should watch out for if you think you’ve been in Afghanistan too long. The number one reason, he says, is when you find yourself doing something like the above video… But I quite liked reason number 9, You think a burqa is an appropriate anniversary gift. […]
John D McHugh blogging from Afghanistan
Frontline Club member John D McHugh is heading back to Afghanistan. This will be the third April he’s spent over there. The first almost killed him, the second went an awful lot smoother. He talked at length about his first trip, along with his photographs at the club in 2007. This time John has a […]
Kabul street named after journalist
Today the authorities in Kabul named a street in the Afghan capital after the local journalist Ajmal Naqshbandi. The 20 year old journalist was beheaded by the Taliban in April 2007. It is the first street named after a journalist killed in Afghanistan, While unveiling the plaque of the avenue, President of the Afghanistan National […]
Talking with the Taliban
The Globe & Mail’s Graeme Smith puts together an in depth multimedia production called Talking with the Taliban for Canada’s biggest newspaper. The piece includes 42 unedited interviews with Taliban fighters all of whom were asked the same set of questions by a researcher the newspaper sent to talk with the Taliban. Here are the […]
Getting the story – Kabul
Writing on the Reuters photographer’s blog Ahmad Masood gives a great wee bit of insight into the working life of a photographer on the Kabul beat and the process he goes through when responding to a suspected bomb, I always call another photographer, or the Reuters Television producer, to double check, and I hate to […]
Carsten Thomassen hearing opens
The court hearing into the death of Norwegian journalist Carsten Thomassen opened last week. Thomassen died of injuries he received during an attack at Serena hotel in Kabul in January. Opening the hearing Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere admitted the Foreign Office did not have any emergency plans for the type of attack, Stoere said […]
“Like being in the mouth of a tuba”
In a series of behind the scenes films ITV’s Mark Austin and Phil Reay Smith describe life working as reporters in Helmand province, Afghanistan. And by the looks of things it’s all rather snug. As Mark says, “It’s the best food in terms of being in a theatre of war that I’ve ever tasted.” I […]
Kidnap victim John Martinkus back in Afghanistan
SBS Dateline Video Journalist John Martinkus returns to Afghanistan to report on his time spent travelling with the US 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan. John was kidnapped in 2004, where he was also embedded with US forces. At the time the BBC reported that Google saved him when his captors said they checked Google to confirm […]
News gathering in Afghanistan
[video:youtube:rPaTgRPr4O4] Here’s a brief video of how a number of Afghanistan based journalists followed a breaking story from their bases in Kabul. How good stringers and local knowledge are invaluable and the value of input from military sources, Veteran reporter and filmmaker Bill Gentile profiles noted journalists from The New York Times, the BBC, Time, […]
From the NATO Review
I’ve cross-posted this on the Frontline blog. Vaughan features in an article in the latest edition of NATO Review. Vaughan discusses how he got into journalism, military minders and the importance of independent reporting, Managing correspondents in the field has become very much more complex, not least through the expansion in the size of the […]
Harrystan raises media debate
Writing on the BBC Editor’s blog about the recent deployment of Prince Harry to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban, Jon Williams, says When the Ministry of Defence approached the BBC – along with other parts of the UK media – to ask us not to tell our audiences about a possible deployment of Prince Harry […]
Pakistani Death Ray
Hilarious piece of Kabul gossip from Jean MacKenzie on the Institute of war and peace reporting blog. It appears the strength of rumour in Kabul rivals the strength of American firepower. And whatever you do, watch out for those incoming Pakistani death rays when you’re answering the phone, My favorite anecdote is the Pakistani Death […]
The Talib who turned
There was little in the dismal reception room to dispel the all-pervading cold of the snow outside. Mice scurried among the relics of half-eaten food on plates scattered around an unlit wood-burning stove. Apart from a few blankets and a couple of kalashnikovs the space was bare. Perhaps I had expected finer trappings for Musa […]
Tim Hetherington talks
Frontline Club founding member and this year’s World Press Photo of the year award winner, Tim Hetherington, is in conversation with Der Spiegel this week, It was Hetherington’s third tour there with US forces. The British photographer was once again traveling with the 2nd Platoon of Battle Company, part of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry […]
The Carsten Thomassen Kabul library
A new library in Kabul is to be named after the journalist Carsten Thomassen who was shot dead during an attack on the Serena Hotel in the Afghan capital in January, The Afghan Minister of Education has announced that the new library at the National Institute for Leadership and Adminstration will be named after Thomassen. […]
Andy McNab on Kabul hotels
[video:youtube:2iltEbDjM_M] Dominic Medley, a frequent visitor to Gandamack Lodge in Kabul and a founding member of the Frontline club, emails to tell me popular war novelist and ex-SAS man Andy McNab writes about the hotel scene in Kabul in his latest book, Crossfire. The author looks favorably upon the Gandamack lodge. Here are Dominic’s snippets […]
“NATO cannot advance”
Channel 4’s Alex Thomson and cameraman Stuart Webb report from Sangin valley in Afghanistan on an embed with British forces, Chief Correspondent Alex Thomson accompanied the marines up the Sangin valley to the Kajaki Dam. It was an assault on Taliban forces dug-in amongst the hills and valleys. A mission that ended in a bloody […]
Help save Pervez Kambaksh
Blogging at The Guardian, Roy Greenslade points to a petition at The Independent newspaper to help save the journalist Pervez Kambaksh who has been sentenced to death in Kabul. His “crime” was something I do every single day and don’t give a second thought to – downloading material from the internet. Roy adds, I have […]
A soldier in Helmand
I’m very pleased to announce the latest addition to the From the Frontline blog stable – the Soldier’s Blog. This is the blog of an anonymous Danish soldier about to deploy to Helmand province in Afghanistan. He’ll be blogging about the daily life of a soldier before and during deployment. He hopes to be able […]
The Kabul yeti
Jean MacKenzie at the Institute of War and Peace Reporting looks forward to heading down to Helmand for one reason and one reason alone – the weather, You know you’ve hit rock bottom when a trip to Helmand is a step up. But as I boarded the little Beechcraft this morning and set off from […]
Media Guardian Innovation Awards
Stepping in for Vaughan here…. and have crossposted on the Frontline blog…. Here’s some great news. Club founder and journalist whizz of the old school, Vaughan Smith, is up for a gong at the inaugural Media Guardian Innovation Awards, or MEGAs, for his live blogging, video reports, twittering and picture taking from the frontline on […]
Carsten Thomassen laid to rest
Norwegians said a final farewell to the journalist Carsten Thomassen today. He was murdered, along with six others, at the Serena hotel in Kabul last week. The Norwegian Foreign minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, who was also in the Serena when Thomassen was killed spoke at the funeral, “Carsten was living proof that a free press […]
Pizza in Kabul
Kabul hillside, originally uploaded by zedwards. Jean Mackenzie at the Institute for War and Peace reporting tells us how easy it is these days to grab a pizza in Kabul, Friday night at Boccacio, formerly known as Villa Villebita. Remember the old days? You would show up, desperate for the best pizza in town, a […]
