Word: kunduz
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...fearless journalist,” stated James Hider, a Middle East correspondent for The New York Times, about his colleague at the newspaper, Stephen Farrell. A force of NATO commandos had just freed Farrell on September 9 after the Taliban kidnapped him and his translator in the Taliban-occupied Kunduz province of northern Afghanistan four days earlier. Yet four deaths in exchange for one reckless journalist’s story is an impossible transaction to defend. Journalists must exercise more caution in reporting from war-torn areas like Afghanistan. Their bravery can quickly turn into a vainglorious fixation on getting...
...Farrell had been investigating a recent German-ordered air strike targeting two hijacked fuel tankers in Kunduz that killed 70 people, a number of them civilians. The region, however, was volatile and controlled by the Taliban. Despite police warnings, Farrell entered Kunduz without a military escort, armed with nothing more deadly than the language abilities of his translator. In the mission to save Farrell, a dual British-Irish citizen, four people were killed: a British commando in the NATO force, an Afghani man and woman—both civilians—and Farrell’s own translator, Sultan Munadi...
...worker Munadi, a married man with two children who had worked as a translator for U.S. newspapers for many years. Farrell’s behavior could be excused if he only endangered himself in his quest to report on the air strike, but the situation in Kunduz made that impossible—a reality Farrell should have appreciated before basically throwing himself into the Taliban’s waiting arms. Reporters should write to expose others to the truth, not foolishly expose others to danger...
...fear,” or the common sense, to recognize the dangerous situation in which he placed himself and Munadi. Farrell and Munadi’s kidnapping was the second kidnapping of a New York Times reporter in one year. Such kidnappings usually occur in outlying provinces such as Kunduz (although kidnappings in and around Kabul do occur). Also, the Taliban often kidnap for ideological reasons, valuing Western journalists, whereas criminals might target wealthy businessmen. The situation in Afghanistan, and increasingly in the north, is becoming extremely unstable. In August, the number of coalition casualties had doubled compared...
...minimized when attacking foreign troops). In large swathes of the southern provinces of Helmand, Kandahar, Zabol, Oruzgan, Paktia and Paktika, a shadow Islamic republic of the Taliban already exists, with governors, a radio station, law-enforcing militias and courts. In recent months, the Taliban opened a northern front in Kunduz, Baghlan and Badakshan provinces, with a strong contingent of al-Qaeda foreigners among them, according to senior Afghan officials. In all these areas, a new saying prevails: "Government courts for the rich (because the judges are bribable), Taliban justice for the poor." And Taliban justice, they say, is usually more...