Gandhara, the website dedicated to Afghanistan and Pakistan within the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty network, is seeking submissions from outside writers and experts on the region to write opinion or analysis pieces geared toward a U.S. and global policy audience.
Gandhara, an ancient region comprising parts of today's Afghanistan and Pakistan, inspires this page, which provides foreign policy audiences with reporting, analysis, and commentary direct from our local correspondents in Afghanistan and Pakistan with the aim of promoting peace in the region. The site covers a wide spectrum of topics including politics, women's rights, security, civil society, trade, and culture.
Gandhara has been lauded as "exceptional in that much of its content comes from writers for whom the region is home" and consistently provides breaking and exclusive reports from the region.
Just this week, Gandhara broke the story of a letter that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani recently sent to Pakistani leaders in which he demanded Islamabad take specific steps to end its longstanding support for the Taliban.
Similarly, in a commentary, former Afghan presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi outlined the reasons that prompted former Afghan President Hamid Karzai to part ways with the incumbent Afghan leader, Ashraf Ghani.
Also this week, Dawn, Pakistan's leading English-language daily, republished a Gandhara story about the plight of a Pashtun tribe being asked by Pakistani authorities to pay for Taliban attacks before being allowed to return to their war-ravaged villages in the famed Khyber Pass.
Last month, an Afghan commentator, Atta Nasib, called on Afghan elites to allow President Ghani's efforts to establish new cooperative relations with Pakistan bear fruit. But Hekmatullah Azamy, a Kabul-based analyst, argued that Islamabad's failure to fulfil commitments to Ghani will force him to turn to Pakistan's regional rival, India. Zoha Wazeem, a London-based scholar, analyzed the intricacies of politics and violence in Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi.
Gandhara's chief editor, Abubakar Siddique, is the author of "The Pashtun Question: The Unresolved Key to the Future of Pakistan and Afghanistan.” Siddique has spent the past 15 years researching and writing about security, political, humanitarian, and cultural issues in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Siddique is also a regular speaker at think tanks in London and Washington, D.C., and has contributed articles and research to numerous publications.
Written submissions should be 1,000 words or less. Your submissions will be reviewed by the site's chief editor.
Please submit your pitch to Salma Bahramy at bahramys@rferl.org.
