Translators & Editors
Felix Kuehn travelled to Afghanistan first some 5 years ago, having spent several years in the Middle East including just short of a year in Yemen, where he first learnt Arabic in 2002. In 2006, he founded AfghanWire together with Alex Strick van Linschoten, an online research and media-monitoring group to give a more prominent voice to local Afghan media. In spring 2010 he published My Life With the Taliban, for which he was a co-editor, to critical acclaim, and is also co-editor of a translated volume of Taliban poetry (forthcoming).
Felix holds a degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies (BA Arabic and Development Studies).
A graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies (BA Arabic and Persian), Alex Strick van Linschoten first came to Afghanistan six years ago as a tourist. In 2006, he founded AfghanWire together with Felix Kuehn, an online research and media-monitoring group to give a more prominent voice to local Afghan media. In spring 2010 he published My Life With the Taliban, for which he was a co-editor, to critical acclaim, and is also co-editor of a translated volume of Taliban poetry (forthcoming). He is currently working on a book and PhD at the War Studies Department of King’s College London on the identity of the Afghan Taliban movement 1978-2001.
He has worked as a freelance journalist from Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon and Somalia, writing for Foreign Policy, International Affairs, ABC Nyheter, The Sunday Times (UK), The Globe and Mail (Canada) and The Tablet (UK). He speaks Arabic, Farsi, Pashtu and German and can get by in French and Dutch.
Mirwais Rahmany was born in Rodat district of Nangarhar province in 1983. He learnt English from his father at an early age. He fled to Pakistan in the late 1980s on account of the Soviet invasion. He returned to Kabul following the mujahedeen victory, but settled in Herat after the civil war broke out among various jihadi groups. In 2001 he began his medical studies at Herat University, from which he graduated in 2008. During this time he also worked as an English teacher in Herat. Most recently, he has done work as a specialised legal translator. He lives in Herat.
Abdul Hamid Stanikzai was born in Deh Bali, Kapisa province. He was raised there for three years before moving to Kunduz province. Eventually, his parents moved permanently to Kabul. He started school in 1979, and by 1989 enrolled in Kabul's Police Academy. He started his first official job as a computer operator in the head cartography office in 2001. Following that he began translating and writing and is currently studying for a BBA at the Dunya Institute of Higher Education and French at the Lycée Esteqlal in Kabul. He has translated a wide variety of documents, from project manuals, electoral laws and procedures, codes of conduct and so forth, between English, Pashto and Dari.