Project

A Journey Home: Afghanistan through the Eyes of a Returning Refugee

Dost Mohammad Fahim Khairy, an Afghan who left his country in a time of great turmoil and was resettled in the United States refugee program, makes his first journey home to Afghanistan since he left on Sept. 15, 2001. A reporting team, comprised of lead reporter Jessica Wanke, reporter Don Duncan and photographer Peter van Agtmael, travels with Fahim and chronicles his experiences after years away from his homeland. Khairy's observations and experiences on this voyage are the lens through which the team looks at Afghanistan today.

Through Khairy, the team delves into issues of Western aid, continued military presence, development and protracted internal conflict. A political blogger, human rights activist and astute follower of developments in Afghanistan, Khairy is an ideal voice to narrate the changes his country is undergoing. Additional perspectives from the ground, from NGO workers to Western military personnel to local Afghans, will provide a broader context to understanding where Afghanistan is today, and where it is going.

May 12, 2008 | Pulitzer Center

Afghanistan: From Taliban Fort to School for Girls

We visited the Sultan Razia Girls' High School today, which is probably the greatest symbol of change that you can find in Mazar-i-Sharif. The school building was closed down during the Taliban era and used for three years as a base for Taliban fighters coming in from other parts of Afghanistan and for jihadis from Pakistan. On November 9, 2001 the make-shift Taliban base was raided by the U.S.-supported Northern Alliance. After the fall of the Taliban the school was reconstructed by USAID and UNDP and today 5,000 girls attend school there in two shifts, each day.

May 09, 2008 | Pulitzer Center

Afghanistan: Phoenix to Kabul

It took us five flights to get from Phoenix, where Dost and Farshad are living now, to their home city of Mazar-i-Sharif, in the north of Afghanistan. On the last leg of our trip Don and I interviewed Dost and Farshad about how they were feeling about returning home. By the last hour of the flight to Kabul the exhaustion of the difficult trip had melted away and the excitement had started to set in for Dost. He told us he was eager to see Mazar and even more so to see his bride-to-be, Fahima, who would be waiting for him at the airport.