Get Me Rewrite! Covering the War in Afghanistan

Nowadays this “method” of journalism is harder to pull off – where the conflicts are so go the journalists. And Brian Stelter in his October 19th New York Times article “Goodbye Baghdad, Hello Kabul” reports that more journalists have arrived in Afghanistan, many of them coming from covering the war in Iraq.

Stelter says:

“Like Iraq, Afghanistan poses several vexing problems for journalists. Chief among them is safety: amid deteriorating security in the country and the ever-present threat of kidnapping, news organizations have increased precautions for their staff members in the field.

“The security concerns are compounded by the country’s complex political landscape and the famously tough terrain.”

What I personally think is more challenging for journalists arriving in Afghanistan (and I say this as someone who has a B.A. in Journalism from Michigan State University) is to truly grasp the cultural underpinnings of the “complex political landscape.

Thus I will repeat here the book suggestions I offered in the previous Huliq.com article headlined “Public Opinion Responds to the War in Afghanistan”:

Nonfiction books:

• “First In: An Insider’s Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan” by Gary Schroen -- about the first CIA people into Afghanistan after 9/11

• “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10” by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson -- about a SEAL operation in Taliban areas in Afghanistan in June 2005

Novel:

• “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini (also the author of “The Kite Runner”) – a story of women set again several political regimes in Afghanistan and which actually provides the historical background for understanding the above two nonfiction books

I highly recommend the journalists newly arrived (and maybe some of the older hands) read these books to understand the basics of what they are reporting on in Afghanistan. Because, plainly said, Afghanistan is not Iraq.

Written by Phyllis Zimbler Miller
Mrs. Lieutenant: A Sharon Gold Novel
Los Angeles, CA
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