Radio Azadi, RFE/RL’s Pashto and Dari Service, commemorated a decade of broadcasting in Afghanistan by hosting a seminar on May 20 at the Government Media and Information Center (GMIC) in Kabul. More than 100 people attended, including senior government officials, parliamentarians, journalists, analysts, and NGOs, for the seminar entitled “Impact and Effectiveness of Radio Azadi and Its Ten Years of Broadcast in Afghanistan.”
Jalal Norani of the Information and Culture Ministry, and Sefatullah Sahaf, GMIC Vice President, opened the seminar and were followed by a review of Radio Azadi’s first decade by Akbar Ayazi, RFE/RL Regional Director who ran the service from 2005-2011. Ayazi then moderated a panel on the role Radio Azadi plays in developing a free and independent media to support civil society, democratic institutions, and human rights in Afghanistan.
The panel included Shukria Barakzai, an Afghan parliament member; Mohammad Nayem Nazari, the head of the Civil Society and Human Rights Network; Baryalai Omarzai, the director of the Afghan Community Rehabilitation Unti; and Humaira Qaderi, an NGO activist.
The seminar attracted widespread news coverage in Afghanistan, including reports on Afghanistan National Television and VOA’s TV Ashna, demonstrating Radio Azadi’s importance in the country's media scene.
-- Kate Leisner