Fazelminallah Qazizai
Afghanistan Correspondent
Fazelminallah Qazizai is Afghanistan Correspondent at New Lines. He is an Afghan journalist with a degree in Islamic Law from the Kabul University, and co-author, along with Chris Sands, of “Night Letters: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Afghan Islamists who Changed the World”. He has always lived in Afghanistan.
Latest from Fazelminallah Qazizai
Afghan Women Deserve to Be Respected
The Taliban government should recognize that we all owe a debt to Afghan women and stop unnecessarily interfering in their lives.
The Taliban Still Depend on Mullah Omar’s Legacy
Nine years after his death, the founding leader of the Islamist movement continues to exert an unparalleled influence over its members.
The Afghan War May Not Be Over
“Letter from Kabul” is a newsletter in which our contributors provide their own unique glimpses into life on the ground…
Why the Taliban View Education as a Weapon
"Letter from Kabul” is a newsletter in which our contributors provide their own unique glimpses into life on the ground…
The Failure of Nonviolence in Afghanistan
“Letter from Kabul” is a newsletter in which our contributors provide their own unique glimpses into life on the ground…
The Different Meanings of Taliban Rule
The Taliban’s victory has come to mean different things to different people here. For some Afghans, it has brought peace and freedom. For others, it has led to starvation and fear.
The Mysterious Public Appearances of the Taliban’s Supreme Leader
This “Letter from Kabul” is part of a new offering by New Lines. Our contributors provide their own unique glimpses…
In the Afghan Capital, the Economic Desperation Is Palpable
Acts of quiet desperation are a feature of daily life here in Kabul this winter. Although they may not grab the headlines like the suicide bombings of the Islamic State group or the latest proclamations of the Taliban, they too are expressions of a certain kind of politics.
Letter from Kabul: The Brutal Business of a Border Crossing
We Afghans are used to waiting around because of the incompetence and arrogance of our officials. We are accustomed to being abused and treated as second-class citizens by our own governments. But in all my life I had never seen a hell like this.
Kabul University’s New Chancellor Promises an Updated Taliban Outlook
The new generation of Taliban are a product of their times: more open to the prospect of gradual social change than their forebears, yet politically more militant. Many of them played important roles in a war that killed tens of thousands of Afghans but, as they point out, they too lost friends and family along the way.
The Drone Unit that Helped the Taliban Win the War
The Taliban’s advances in the north near Tajikistan were a critical part of the story of how Afghanistan fell to the group. Fazelminallah Qazizai speaks to the drone unit that decapitated rival forces and enabled the insurgents rapid advance.
The Special Units Leading the Taliban’s Fight against the Islamic State
The Taliban sensed an opportunity. Eager to win more public support for their insurgency and desperate to prevent the Islamic State from making further inroads into their territory, they decided to escalate the fight against the group.
The Taliban’s Struggle to Control Kabul
In the coming weeks, as the Taliban try to form a new government, they will have to find ways to reconcile the competing interests of the different factions they are trying to court to give their rule legitimacy. It remains to be seen, however, if they have the capacity to enforce discipline within their own ranks.
After America: Inside the Taliban’s New Emirate
With just under five months to go until U.S. withdrawal, as Afghans brace for postwar uncertainty, an Afghan journalist visits the Taliban's new emirate in Helmand, the land the U.S. failed to tame.
On the Afghan-Pakistan Frontier, the Danger Is Never Over
For locals on both sides of the frontier, the distinction between what is local and what is foreign has never been clear. Houses, mosques, farms and even graveyards have one entrance in Afghanistan and the other in Pakistan. People on both sides often belong to the same tribes and have resisted such artificial delimitations.