Fieldnotes on Humanity

In my previous posts , I discussed corruption within the RFE/RL bureau, specifically Radio Azadi, in Kabul. I also alluded to another serious issue: sexual harassment. In this post, I want to share a few specific examples to shed light on what occurred during the bureau’s early years. At the time, and still, Radio Azadi broadcast its programs in two major languages: Farsi/Dari and Pashto. Each language section operated under a separate editor, and every report or segment created by journalists had to pass through these editors before being sent to Prague for broadcast. While the editorial review process was intended to ensure quality and consistency, it was frequently misused by certain opportunistic men to exploit their female colleagues. Many of these men were married, yet that didn’t stop them from making inappropriate advances toward the women they worked with. One of the more insidious methods of control was the misuse of editorial authority. Let me explain how this played out. Ea...

It would have been better if Radio Azaid, the Afghanistan Service, had been renamed Radio of Pashtuns. Radio Azadi, which means a free radio, is a misnomer for a radio that is strongly controlled and catered towards Pathun ethnonationalism. Radio Azadi not only amplified through its biased programs but also discriminated against hiring Hazara applicants and employees. This post is in a series of blog posts that I have decided to write about Radio Azadi, reflecting on my experience and the experience of others who worked in this organization.   When Radio Azadi opened its bureau in Kabul, it hired four Hazara employees; the rest were mostly Pashtuns and Tajiks, except the administrative manager and a guard who belonged to the Turkman ethnic group. Two Czech technicians from Prague hired me; had they been Pashuns or Tajiks, I had zero chance of employment. A year later, I was fired just because I was a Hazara.  A year later, only one Hazara remained. The rest were pushed ou...

On January 20, 2015, Radio Azadi, the Afghanistan Service, purposefully published a parnicious video report from Herat, located in western Afghanistan, which was subsequently published on its website, YouTube , and social media platforms. The report centered around Iranian influence in Afghanistan, and the reporter sought to cast doubt on the presence of Hazaras in Herat. In the report, the reporter visits the Jebrael neighborhood, a Hazara-majority area, and claims that Jebrael suddenly appeared in what was once an empty plain. The implication is clear: the Hazaras were not originally from Herat but were recently brought there by Iran. The reporter further questions local residents, asking if their homes were built by Iran. One elderly man responds, firmly stating, "No, we built everything with our own money and with our own hands." The underlying message of the report is that the presence of Hazaras in Herat is part of a covert Iranian government plan to establish a corrid...

In my previous post , I wrote about theft at Radio Azadi. Here’s an example: The RFE/RL Afghanistan bureau in Kabul had just moved from the Mustafa Hotel in the buffer zone, located between downtown and Shahr-e Naw, to Wazir Akbar Khan, a more opulent and safe neighborhood. It was sometime in late 2002. The city's electricity was rarely available, let alone reliable, so the office has received permission from the main office in Prague, the Czech Republic, to purchase a generator to provide electricity to our newly built two studios plus nearly 45 desktop computers. I was a technician and, therefore, was responsible for any technological problems.  I went to Shahr-e-Naw and found a computer shop owned by a Herati merchant that sold German generators. It was nearly two years after the people of the Taliban regime, and finding a powerful generator was like a dream come true. The only generator that the store had was 5000W, which was considered pretty good given the scarcity. Plus, if ...

When Kari Lake was nominated as a special advisor to the United States Agency for Global Media, some media outlets reported that Trump had asked Lake to gut the government agency that oversees Voice of America (VOA). Instead of gutting, Kari Lake dismantled the agency, which oversees six organizations, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America. I don’t know much about the other organizations that were closed, but I know a lot about Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Afghan Service, known as Radio Azadi . (to call it Azadi, which means freedom, is a misnomer; I will write on this more in an upcoming blog post). I worked in its Kabul bureau as a technical manager in 2003. I was responsible for all communication tools, technology, radio broadcasting, and relay systems. I know how corrupt this organization was. I mean corrupt in every sense, ethically and financially. During the time I worked, male journalists would openly demand sex from their female colleagues in bro...