Voices on Afghanistan: Telling the other side of the story

Media coverage of Afghanistan should not only be focused on politics and violence, says Wadia Samadi, the founder of the country's first business news website.

An Afghan man harvests wheat on the outskirts of Herat, Afghanistan on June 19, 2014. Afghanistan's economy has improved, with the help of international aid, after suffering decades of fighting, reporShow more

A balance must be found in the media coverage of the violence in Afghanistan and the country's attempts to rebuild after decades of war, says Wadia Samadi, the founder and editor-in-chief of Wadsam.com, Afghanistan's first business news website.

Wadsam’s target audience is very specific. Readers want to see more positive business news from Afghanistan, about the building of businesses, small or big, and economic development.

I launched Wasdam.com 2.5 years ago. I enjoy reading international news, but all the news that I read about my country was on politics, violence, and terrorism.

What was missing was a focus on economic development, the achievements that we have had in the last decade.

So I decided to launch this website to highlight the development of Afghanistan, to report the economic trends, business news, and to try to focus the world’s attention on the economy and the potential we have.

I write most of the articles on the website that are in English. I also have freelance journalists send me articles now and again. The Dari language articles are written by two Afghan journalists that I work with.

As far as I am aware, mine is the only website in Afghanistan run by a Afghan woman. As a woman it is very difficult for me to market my website. It’s like a product. You have to go out and network and attend conferences and get companies to advertise. It’s a challenge for me to do this as a woman. These meetings are very much male dominated and it’s challenging for me to participate. The culture is not used to it yet. I am very grateful to my husband and family for helping with this part of the website.

Despite the challenges I still manage and by running the website what I’ve learned is that the more negative stories you publish about Afghanistan, the more you only remember Afghanistan as something negative. There has to be a balance.

Politics and violence, they occur in every single country all over the world. But it hurts when you only read negative stories about your country when you are witness to so many good stories. Afghanistan is not all about war. It is about peace as well. There are people who have pushed aside so many boundaries to make their own identities. All of these developments need to be highlighted so the world knows Afghanistan is not what it was like under the Taliban.

It has to be highlighted that we are making progress. People are awakening. People are interested in peace. People want to see their country develop. The world needs to be reminded that these people exist.

It is especially important now to achieve that balance as we are talking about the transition and the US troops leaving.

We have to show the world that we are working. That there are people who are tired of war. They want to continue working. I want to highlight those people.

There are concerns about what happens to the economy when the international forces leave and there are security concerns, it is true, I cannot deny that. At the same time there are people in Afghanistan who are optimistic, who believe it is not the end of the world. There are people who believe the election will be successful. There are people who are buying houses and building businesses. There are a lot of signs that people are not giving up.

When it comes to business and investment opportunities the mineral sector is the story most in the media. Many believe it will be the driving factor in the economy.

I personally believe in the agricultural sector, we have a competitive advantage with that. It’s something that we are good at.

It is these two sectors that Afghans are most optimistic about. They will drive Afghanistan’s economy in the future and attract foreign investment to our country.