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"Journalists are using Twitter more and more these days, even in an unlikely place: Afghanistan.\nWith about a million active Internet users out of a total population of just less than 35 million, it may seem strange that Afghan news writers are turning to the 140-or-less character web messaging service. But Mustafa Kazemi, a reporter covering politics and the war in his home country, says journalists are using the service to share up-to-the-second news with followers across the country and the world.\nKazemi, who tweets as @combatjourno, says that journalists in Afghanistan really started using Twitter early last year. Kazemi himself fearlessly covers the war and political strife of the country.\n\nTaliban ambushed a Police convoy in western Herat province last night killing two policemen. Radio Kellid says they claimed credit as well.\n\u2014 Combat Journalist (@combatjourno) February 16, 2012\n\nIn August of last year, he live tweeted a suicide attack on the British Council in Kabul. And last September, he tweeted pictures of the building from which combatants were attacking the U.S. Embassy.\n\"I started using [Twitter] for news updates in January 2011 and [livetweeted] several terrorist attacks in Kabul and elsewhere in the south and east of the country, direct from the scene,\" says Kazemi. \"Journalists now use Twitter to share local news, stories, updates on incidents throughout the country.\"\nKazemi's coverage provides a window into Afghanistan from a native writer's perspective that simply can't be matched by foreign writers. He manages this all while building an online following and readership the way any web-savvy journalist would: through interaction and engagement. He's got just less than 3,000 followers, but that number's going up every day. Kazemi makes it a point to respond to his Twitter followers, providing his views on the Afghani news of the day.\n\n@DuMatthew Hi Matt, he has died in Pakistan while under custody. Apparently out of physical frustration coz ISI imposed hard labor on him\n\u2014 Combat Journalist (@combatjourno) February 11, 2012\n\nIn Afghanistan, \"freedom of the press\" isn't an oft-heard phrase. Reporters Without Borders ranked the country 150th out of 179 countries on its most recent Press Freedom Index. Reporters have to worry about everything from censorship to intimidation and physical harassment. \nDoes Kazemi worry that his Twitter reporting could be censored, or that it might reveal details that might put him in harm's way? Absolutely.\n\"Every journalist is afraid of censorship,\" says Kazemi. \"It's a barrier to freedom of speech and freedom of reporting. Recent announcements on censorship and/or monitoring of social media by Twitter and the ... U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security have been a matter of concern for me personally.\"\nKazemi, like many of his peers, has been harassed by the subjects of his reports.\n\"I've been previously threatened by the Taliban in Afghanistan for (a) few news reporting cases as well as for working with foreign media agencies,\" says Kazemi. \"Also, in Afghanistan, if a journalist covers a crime or leaks information by which a warlord or a key government official comes under question or his public image is damaged, the journalist comes under direct and indirect danger, even life threats.\"\nKazemi, despite these threats, keeps reporting, tweeting and building a brand. Even with the censorship and threats of violence, does he think social media will have a future in Afghanistan? \n\"Without a doubt,\" says Kazemi.\nWhat do you think about Kazemi's war reporting on Twitter? Sound off in the comments below.\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, christophe_cerisier\n      window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement('script');js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);};\n_msla(\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\",\"twitter_jssdk\");"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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