Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak Archives - Committee to Protect Journalists

A memorial for Afghan journalist Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak in Kabul. (AFP/Shah Marai)

Time to reassess U.S. military counterinsurgency tactics

July 27, 2012 4:16 PM EDT

One year ago, on July 28, 2011, Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak, 25, was killed by American troops during a brutal close-quarters battle with a Taliban suicide squad backed by gunmen. Khpalwak was one of 22 people killed in the hours-long siege on government buildings that included the governor’s office and police headquarters in Tarin Kot, capital…

At a demonstration in Kabul, a photo of the slain Afghan journalist Ajmal Naqshbandi. (AP/Musadeq Sadeq)

Attacks on the Press in 2011: Fixers on Front Lines

February 21, 2012 11:24 PM EST

Local “fixers” have been essential to foreign reporters covering the Afghan war. While they often do the same work as their international counterparts, they run greater risk and face a far more uncertain future. By Monica Campbell

Attacks on the Press in 2011: Journalists Killed

February 21, 2012 4:37 PM EST

Murders decline, but fatalities rise during coverage of protests. Photographers and freelancers pay an especially high price. Pakistan is the world’s most dangerous nation.

ISAF takes responsibility for Afghan journalist’s death

September 8, 2011 5:21 PM EDT

New York, September 8, 2011–The International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said today that one of its soldiers was responsible for the July 28 death of a local journalist working for the BBC Afghanistan service and the Pajhwok Afghan News agency. The ISAF soldier, an American, told authorities that he thought Ahmed Omaid Khpalwak was…

Khpalwak covered more than just war and instability--he captured everyday life in Afghanistan. (Khpalwak)

Afghan journalist’s death is a loss for press freedom

August 3, 2011 10:56 AM EDT

Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak covered violent news. His last two stories for Pajhwok Afghan News, before he died on July 28 in a major attack in Tarin Kot, capital of Uruzgan province, were about an attack on police checkpoints in which both Taliban and police were killed, and an interview with a would-be suicide bomber. Few of…

Afghan journalist killed in insurgent attack

July 28, 2011 3:23 PM EDT

New York, July 28, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak, a BBC and Pajhwok Afghan News reporter, in violence between insurgents and security forces in central Afghanistan today.