Afghan refugee and journalist in Halifax fears for those who couldn’t escape

A journalist from Afghanistan is grateful to have found refuge in Halifax, but he's concerned for the safety of others who couldn't escape the country.

An Afghan refugee and journalist who recently arrived in Halifax is glad to have a safe place to live, but he can’t stop thinking about his friends and colleagues suffering back in his home country.

Mahboob Elahi Mahzooz, 32, along with his wife and two children, arrived in Halifax earlier this month, along with about 100 other refugees fleeing violence and unrest in Afghanistan.

Mahzooz, who worked since 2018 as a foreign news journalist at a TV station covering NATO conferences in Kabul, said his work made him a target.

“Sometimes I was conducting exclusive interviews with foreign diplomats, ambassadors, based in Kabul,” he said in a recent interview with Global News.

“It was interesting, but full of risk.”

Even before the Taliban takeover in August, journalism in Afghanistan was a risky job.

While on assignment in 2019, Mahzooz went to an air base with a U.S. general to work on a story. It was his first time in a helicopter, and he took pictures and posted them on social media.

“After that, I received many threats: threats of being a helper of American forces, of NATO forces,” he said.