Mohammad Fahim Dashty

Panjshir in the Mirror of Civilization

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Mohammad Fahim Dashty is a prominent Afghanistani journalist and the editor in chief of "Kabul Weekly Newspaper, a politician and political analyst. He is an ethnic Tajik, born in Panjshir province in 1973, Dashty studied political sciences in Kabul University. Fighting in his homeland forced him to exile in Iran in 1989.

Because of his close relations and respect to Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, Dashty constantly had to move about Central Asia and seek hide-outs in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, France, Pakistan and Iran.

When Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated in northern Afghanistan two days before the September 11 Attacks, Dashty was working on a biography of the late commander, and was injured as well. More than 90% of his body was burned as a result of the explosion that killed Massoud. After a lengthy treatment in Paris, Mr. Dashty came back to Afghanistan and founded the Kabul Weekly, a tri-lingual newspaper published from Kabul.

The Kabul Weekly is currently the most widely distributed newspaper in Afghanistan, both in the center and the provinces. It was first started in 1991, but was closed after it published an article accusing the Mujahideen government in 1994. The newspaper restarted its circulation immediately after the fall of the Taliban and since has been the main newspaper read by the population of Afghanistan. The Kabul Weekly is published once a week on Wednesday in English, Dari (Persian) and Pashto. It has a circulation of 10,000. It is one of only newspaper in Afghanistan that carries considerable English language material (another is Daily Outlook Afghanistan) and so it enjoys readership made up both of locals and foreigners.

Kabul is an independent newspaper that covers most of the provinces. It gives more than a paper to the readers. It strictly follows the journalism ethics, supported by a team of Afghan and foreign staff. The paper is self-funded and pays its expenses through its advertisement revenues.

Faheem Dashty is married and has a son.