Mukhtar Wafayee

Mukhtar Wafayee is an Afghan award-winning investigative journalist, writer and poet. Born in 1992 in the Balkh province of north Afghanistan, Wafayee received a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and has been working as a journalist since 2010. His journalistic work focuses on issues of security, politics and governance.

Wafayee has worked in a range of media roles, among them: as Editor-in-Chief of Howayda news agency, investigative reporter and analyst for Daily Open Society (2014-2017), investigative reporter for 8AM Daily, journalist for Hasht-e-Subh Daily (until 2018) and presenter for Mehr TV. Wafayee’s publications extend outside of the journalism realm. In 2015, he published a non-fiction book recounting the history of Sholgara district in the Balkh province, titled Dar-e-Gaze Bastan. His poetry was included in the collection Qand-e Parsi after submitting his work to the 6th International Qand-e Parsi Festival run by the Afghan Literature House.

Wafayee has received several recognitions for his work. In 2014, he won the organisation NAI - Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan’s Bravest Journalist of the Year Award following a public vote. He was also awarded the Afghan Journalists Centre’s (AFJC) The Journalist of the Year Award in 2017. In recognition for his poetry, he received the Qand-e- Farsi's award (Persian poetry festival in Afghanistan) in 2013.

Since 2019, Wafayee has lived with his wife Nilofar Langar in Malmö after being offered a residency through ICORN. He continues his journalism work with Radio Zamaneh and Subh-e-Kabul daily newspaper.

For more on Wafayee’s work, visit his personal blog, or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.

To download a free PDF of Wafayee’s book Dar-e-Gaze Bastan: https://www.wafayee.com/2015/12/blog-post_23.html