Bette Dam

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Bette Dam is an investigative journalist [1] [2] professor at Sciences Po [3] and author of Looking for the Enemythe unknown story of the Taliban, which describes the life of the most unknown leader of the world, mullah Omar. [4] [5] [6]

Contents

Professional career

Dam is notable for writing more complex, and diverse stories on terrorism. [7] In 2009, she published the unknown story of the then Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and how he came to power immediately after 09/11. [8] As one of the first journalists, Dam shows that there were strong signs that the so-called war on terrorism in Afghanistan could have been over in December 2001, with a surrender-offer of the Taliban. [9] [10] Dam also describes how the United States government, under the leadership of George Bush at that time, was ‘too emotional’ to accept this, and started the military intervention instead. [11] [12] [13]

In Looking for the Enemy, [14] [15] Dam discloses for the first time the long unknown hiding place of mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban. [16] [17] Like Osama bin Laden who lived next to a Pakistan Military Academy, mullah Omar lived not far from an American Forward Operating Base in Southern Afghanistan (Zabul), she claims. [18] [19] [20] The news attracted attention. There were compliments, and at the same time disbelief. The Afghan government who had claimed mullah Omar to be in Pakistan, wrote that Dam was ‘delusional’. [21] [22] General David Petreaus responded in The Wall Street Journal, saying that he still believed mullah Omar had been hiding in Pakistan. Yet, Dam her work has not been proven wrong. The Guardian stated that Dam her work ‘is something the CIA was not able to do’. [23] Foreign Affairs reviewed her work and stated that ‘the West still doesn't understand the Taliban’. [24]

Since 2017, Dam has been a professor at Sciences Po, in Paris. Her teaching is about detecting Western biases in global coverage, and how to prevent this. She also lectured at several universities and for governments. In 2020 she lectured at Oxford University at All Souls College. [25]

Dam has appeared in media such as the BBC, [26] CNN and The Guardian. [27] [28] [29] She was nominated the best investigative journalist of the year in 2020. [30]

Her first book were nominated for the Bob den Uyl Award [31] and for the Dick Scherpenzeel award. [32]

As an Author

Early life and education

From 2002 to 2005, Dam studied political science with a specialization in International Relations at the University of Amsterdam. [36]

In 2019, Dam started her PhD at the University of Brussels. Dam writes an auto-ethnographic study about her journalistic experiences in Afghanistan and compares it to the journalistic productions of legacy media like, the New York Times and Associated Press on Afghanistan. [37]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taliban</span> Government of Afghanistan

The Taliban, which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a militant organization in Afghanistan with an ideology comprising elements of Pashtun nationalism and the Deobandi current of Islamic fundamentalism. It ruled approximately three-quarters of the country from 1996 to 2001, before being overthrown following the American invasion. It recaptured Kabul on 15 August 2021 following the departure of most coalition forces, after nearly 20 years of insurgency, and currently controls all of the country. However, its government is not recognized by any country. The Taliban government has been internationally condemned for restricting human rights in Afghanistan, including the right of women and girls to work and to have an education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mullah Omar</span> Afghan cleric who founded the Taliban

Muhammad Umar, known in the West as Mullah Omar, was an Afghan militant who founded the Taliban in 1994. During the Afghan Civil War of 1996–2001, the Taliban fought the Northern Alliance and took control of most of the country, establishing the First Islamic Emirate for which Omar began to serve as Supreme Leader in 1996. Shortly after al-Qaeda carried out the September 11 attacks, the Taliban government was toppled by an American invasion of Afghanistan, prompting Omar to go into hiding. He successfully evaded capture by the American-led coalition before dying in 2013, reportedly from tuberculosis.

Bashir Noorzai is a convicted former Afghan drug lord. He was an early supporter of the Taliban movement and later worked as an undercover agent on behalf of the U.S. government. Despite being among America's most wanted drug traffickers, he agreed to come to New York City for a debriefing after being promised by his handlers that he would not be arrested. He was arrested ten days after his arrival. In the aftermath of Afghanistan take over by the Taliban, the group demanded that the US release him in exchange with an American engineer, Mark Frerichs, who was kidnapped by the group in January 2020.

Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil Abdul Ghaffar is an Afghan politician. He was the last Foreign Minister in the Taliban government of the first Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in 2001. Prior to this, he served as spokesman and secretary to Mullah Mohammed Omar, leader of the Taliban. After the Northern Alliance, accompanied by U.S. and British forces, ousted the regime, Muttawakil surrendered in Kandahar to government troops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad Fazl</span> Afghan politician

Mullah Mohammad Fazl is the First Deputy Defense Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, having assumed the role on 7 September 2021. He also served in the position during the previous Taliban government (1996–2001).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khairullah Khairkhwa</span> Information Minister of Afghanistan since 2021

Khairullah Said Wali Khairkhwa is the Afghan Minister of Information and Culture and a former Minister of the Interior. After the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, he was held at the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba for 12 years. He was released in late May 2014 in a prisoner exchange that involved Bowe Bergdahl and the Taliban five. Press reports have referred to him as "Mullah" and "Maulavi", two different honorifics for referring to senior Muslim clerics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Haq Wasiq</span> Afghan Director of Intelligence since 2021

Abdul Haq Wasiq is the Director of Intelligence of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since September 7, 2021. He was previously the Deputy Minister of Intelligence in the former Taliban government (1996–2001). He was held in extrajudicial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, from 2002 to 2014. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 4. American intelligence analysts estimate that he was born in 1971 in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Obaidullah Akhund</span> Taliban politician (c. 1968–2010)

Mullah Obaidullah the Akhund was the Defence Minister in the Afghan Taliban government of 1996–2001 and then an insurgent commander during the Taliban insurgency against the Afghan government of Hamid Karzai and the US-led NATO forces. He was captured by Pakistani security forces in 2007 and died of heart disease in a Pakistani prison in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mullah Naqib</span> Afghan politician and mujahid (1950-2007)

Mullah Naqib Alikozai, sometimes called Naqibullah, was an Afghan mujahideen commander and politician from the Kandahar area of southern Afghanistan. He was the leader of the Alikozai Pashtun tribe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fall of Kandahar</span> 2001 conflict in Kandahar

The Fall of Kandahar took place in 2001 during the War in Afghanistan. After the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif, Kabul and Herat, Kandahar was the last major city under Taliban control. Kandahar was where the Taliban movement had originated and where its power base was located, so it was assumed that capturing Kandahar would be difficult. The city fell after several weeks of fighting to a force of local militia under Pashtun military commanders and their American advisers. The fall of Kandahar signaled the end of organized Taliban control of Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leadership Council of Afghanistan</span> Advisory council to the supreme leader of Afghanistan

The Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also translated as the Supreme Council, is an advisory council to the Supreme Leader of Afghanistan. The supreme leader convenes and chairs the council at his sole discretion. He has ultimate authority and may override or circumvent it at any time. It played a key role in directing the Taliban insurgency from Quetta, Pakistan, which led to it being informally referred to as the Quetta Shura at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hayatullah Khan (Taliban leader)</span>

Mullah Hayatullah Khan is a Taliban leader and spokesmen. In 2004 Khan informed journalists that the Taliban's leadership were in Afghanistan, not taking sanctuary in Balochistan. When Hayatullah Khan made his first statement, in 2004, President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai said "Who is this Taliban commander Hayatullah Khan who made this claim? I have never heard his name and probably you also don’t know him.".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Ghani Baradar</span> Co-founder and political leader of the Afghan Taliban

Abdul Ghani Baradar is an Afghan political and religious leader who is the acting first deputy prime minister, alongside Abdul Salam Hanafi, of Afghanistan. A co-founder of the Taliban along with Mullah Omar, he was Omar's top deputy from 2002 to 2010, and since 2019 he has been the Taliban's fourth-in-command, as the third of Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada's three deputies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 in Afghanistan</span> List of events

Events from the year 2012 in Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noorullah Noori</span> Afghan Borders and Tribal Affairs Minister since 2021

Mullah Noorullah Noori is the Minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since 7 September 2021. He was also the Taliban's Governor of Balkh Province during their first administration (1996–2001). Noorullah Noori spent more than 12 years in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. Noori was released from the detention camp on May 31, 2014, in a prisoner exchange that involved Bowe Bergdahl and the Taliban Five, and flown to Qatar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akhtar Mansour</span> 2nd supreme leader of the Taliban

Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was the second supreme leader of the Taliban. Succeeding the founding leader, Mullah Omar, he was the supreme leader from July 2015 to May 2016, when he was killed in a US drone strike in Balochistan, Pakistan.

Daud Junbish is a BBC journalist. He is one of the few journalists in the world who has met former Taliban chief Mullah Omar, and has interviewed him on multiple occasions. He is the author of What Is Really Happening in Afghanistan?, 24 Hours That Turned Afghanistan Around, and Red Army in Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supreme Leader of Afghanistan</span> Head of state of Afghanistan

The supreme leader of Afghanistan, officially the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and also styled by his religious title Amir al-Mu'minin, is the absolute ruler, head of state, and national religious leader of Afghanistan, as well as the leader of the Taliban. The supreme leader wields unlimited authority and is the ultimate source of all law.

References

  1. ↑ Desk, NNPS (2023-05-30). "Balanced media crucial to bring peace in Afghanistan: Bette Dam" . Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  2. ↑ "looking for the enemy bette dam unravels the myth of mullah omar".
  3. 1 2 "'I want people to question the war on terror' – DW – 03/14/2019". dw.com. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  4. ↑ "Bette Dam | Journalismfund Europe". www.journalismfund.eu. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  5. ↑ "Bette Dam Archives". Afghanistan Analysts Network – English (in Pashto). Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  6. ↑ AFP (2019-03-11). "Mullah Omar never visited Pakistan after 9/11 — let alone die there, new biography claims". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  7. ↑ VOA Urdu Interviews Investigative Journalist Bette Dam, 2019-03-11, retrieved 2024-01-28
  8. ↑ Dam, Bette (2022-04-19). "Talking to the enemy: what can it bring?". Bette's Newsletter. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  9. ↑ "The American War in Afghanistan". global.oup.com. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  10. ↑ "Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of victory" (PDF).
  11. 1 2 Dam, Bette (2014). A Man and a Motorcycle: How Hamid Karzai Became Afghanistan's President. Ipso Facto Publishers. ISBN   978-90-77386-13-2.
  12. ↑ Dam, Bette (2022-05-04). "(Part 1) How to report on ISIS-attacks?". Bette's Newsletter. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  13. ↑ "No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  14. ↑ "Dutch writer claims Mullah Omar lived within walking distance of U.S. base in Afghanistan". Khaama Press. 2019-03-11. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  15. ↑ "Searching for enemy: Dutch author awaits evidence on Mullah Omar's death". Daily Times. 2019-03-24. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  16. ↑ "Author highlights intricacies of Mullah Omar's life, western media's distortion on Afghanistan". Dunya News. 2023-05-30. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  17. ↑ "Mullah Mohammad Omar's final days: how new book contests US claims". The Indian Express. 2019-03-13. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  18. ↑ "Bette Dam". WSPS. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  19. ↑ Graham-Harrison, Emma (2019-03-10). "Fugitive Taliban leader lived short walk from US base, book reveals". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  20. ↑ "the-last-days-of-taliban-head-mullah-omar".
  21. ↑ Dam, Bette (2022-04-19). "Talking to the enemy: what can it bring?". Bette's Newsletter. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  22. ↑ "Kabul Rejects 'Delusional Claim' Mullah Omar Died in Afghanistan". Voice of America. 2019-03-11. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  23. ↑ Graham-Harrison, Emma (2019-03-10). "Fugitive Taliban leader lived short walk from US base, book reveals". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  24. ↑ Bette Dam – Audio Books, Best Sellers, Author Bio | Audible.com.
  25. ↑ "T. E. Lawrence Program on Conflict and Violence | All Souls College". www.asc.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  26. ↑ "Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar 'lived close to US bases'". 2019-03-10. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  27. ↑ Graham-Harrison, Emma (2019-03-10). "Fugitive Taliban leader lived short walk from US base, book reveals". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  28. ↑ "Searching for enemy: Dutch author awaits evidence on Mullah Omar's death". Daily Times. 2019-03-24. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  29. ↑ "Bette Dam | Journalismfund Europe". www.journalismfund.eu. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  30. ↑ "Bette Dam wint de loep met haar boek 'Op zoek naar de vijand' – De Bezige Bij" (in Dutch). 2020-09-28. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  31. ↑ "Genomineerden VPRO Bob den Uyl Prijs 2010 aan het woord". VPRO (in Dutch). 2010-04-02. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  32. ↑ Villamedia. "Genomineerden Scherpenzeel-prijs bekend / Villamedia". Villamedia – Website over journalistiek (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  33. ↑ Dam, Bette (2019). The Secret Life of Mullah Omar. Zomia Center.
  34. ↑ Dam, Bette (2021). Looking for the Enemy: Mullah Omar and the Unknown Taliban. HarperCollins Publishers India. ISBN   978-93-5489-279-0.
  35. ↑ "Kabul Rejects 'Delusional Claim' Mullah Omar Died in Afghanistan". Voice of America. 2019-03-11. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
  36. ↑ Bette Dam – Audio Books, Best Sellers, Author Bio | Audible.com.
  37. ↑ "Bette Dam". Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
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