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foreign affairs

between the Taliban and the authority running the dubbed versions of Indian hypertension, blood sugar, liver ailment
(USA government). The US administra- entertaining serials in local languages. and also cancer opt to leave for Indian
tion, which completely changed its for- Comfortable in Persian, Pashto and hospitals, he stated. Despite numerous
eign policy towards the armed militias English languages, the author-journalist threats to media persons where journal-
after 9/11/2001 attacks, has seemingly also revealed that many Afghan residents ists are often killed with impunity, he
failed to eliminate the Taliban from all even presume India as a land of fairytales claimed that Afghanistan still supports a
parts of Afghanistan. where women usually pursue education good deal of journalism in compare to its
However, political observers believe to hold powerful positions in govern- neighboring countries.
that the Taliban faced huge losses in all ment and business establishments. Media may not have a direct strategy
these years and the religious armed outfit Studied professional journalism in for peace and conflict resolutions, but
might not be able to strengthen its clout Europe and the USA along with Turkey, the Afghan media fraternity significantly
all over the country like earlier. Presi- Sri Lanka and India, Khalvatgar also contributes for various peace building
dent Donald Trump is interested to pull authored Islam and Globalization, Pro- measures in the country, he affirmed.
back his forces from the Islamic Republic vincial Councils and National Cooperation However Khalvatgar admited that the
before the US general elections in
2020.
Their ultra-modern forces along
with local government militias have
already eliminated few dreaded
terrorists on Earth namely Osama-
bin-Laden, Mullah Omar, Akhtar
Mansour etc. Conscious people of
the country would prefer to end the
engagement of their forces in differ-
ent countries, if they somehow get
convinced of no more terror attacks
on inside USA from any foreign soil.
Khalvatgar pointed out that radi-
cal Islamists are not interested to talk
to the local government led by Presi-
dent Ashraf Ghani, whereas New
Delhi prefers it to happen. US Presi-
dent Trump is also worried with Pak-
disturbances and urged both Islam-
abad and New Delhi to defuse the
ongoing tension so that the Afghan
peace process runs on a smooth
track ending 17 years of war with the
Taliban rebels.
Meanwhile, India’s billion dol-
lar developmental initiatives in Muslim • Taming terror India is exploring possibilities to mainstream journalism across the globe
dominated Afghanistan since 2001 have expand ties with Iran to counter terror in region has been facing major challenges from
already generated huge goodwill to the the social/alternate media. People now
Hindu majority nation. For records, Af- look for internet fed outlets for prompt
ghanistan is the second-largest recipient and Ethics on Social Media. He has been news coverage and the social media
of aid (after Bhutan) from India. Hun- an active member of media law working emerges as a great influence in mould-
dreds of community development pro- group, journalists’ ethics codes, access to ing public opinions. India with millions
jects by Indian agencies are in progress information act, etc in Afghanistan. of internet users, he prescribed, can lead
there involving education, health, agri- Speaking about the pathetic condi- here where nations like Afghanistan can
culture, rural development etc. tions of education and health sectors also considerably contribute.
Indian film actors from both Bolly- in Afghanistan, Khalvatgar stated that
wood and Hindi tele-serials continue to many young Afghan now prefer to go The author is a northeast India based jour-
be popular among Afghans, Khalvatgar to India for pursuing higher and pro- nalist and political commentator
informed adding that large sections of fessional educations. Moreover many
rural women glue to their television sets patients, primarily suffering from letters@tehelka.com

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