Khushnood Nabizada

Khushnood Nabizada (born in 1987) is an Afghan journalist, diplomat, peace campaigner, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and owner of Khaama Press, an Afghanistan-based news agency that reports specific political issues of the Afghanistan region.

Early years and education
Nabizada was born on 27 March 1987 in the Shibar District of Bamyan Province in central Afghanistan. He is an ethnic Hazara and follower of Shia Islam.

Around the age of eight, his family moved to Puli Khumri in Baghlan Province. When Nabizada was in 5th grade of school, he along with his entire family migrated to Rawalpindi, Pakistan, due to Taliban rule. He returned to Afghanistan in 2003, during the presidency of Hamid Karzai.

According to 'Who is who in Afghanistan', a database by CIA for Afghanistan, Nabizada graduated from Habibia High School in 2006. He obtained a bachelor's degree in business administration from Kardan University in 2012. And according to his LinkedIn profile, he is journeying through graduate school at Thunderbird School of Global Management by Arizona State University.

Khushnood has gone through a lot of unforeseen challenges in his life. First, he had to flee from his village in 1996 due to war, then he fled again in 1998 to Pakistan as a terrorist group called Taliban took over the city he used to live in. He returns back to Afghanistan in 2003, works hard for life and eventually life took him again into a situation that he had to flee and get resettled in the United States of America. He narrates this story in a conversation at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in July 2022. This part has also been reflected in the Richmond Times-Dispatch newspaper that published a long story on him in January 2022.

Career
In October 2010, Nabizada founded Khaama Press, which quickly grew to be one of Afghanistan's most prominent online news services, publishing in English, Persian, and Pashto languages. Alongside his role at Khaama Press, Nabizada worked as a Senior Business Executive at the Insurance Corporation of Afghanistan from 2007 to early 2014. He was also a member of the National Unity Party of Afghanistan, also some place written as National Solidarity Party of Afghanistan. Khaama Press has earned recognition as a leading news agency, with its website being the most visited news site in Afghanistan in 2020. In 2016, Nabizada joined the Afghan government, serving as the chief of staff to the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, an appointment approved by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani. He was later appointed as chief of staff to the State Ministry for Peace under minister Sadat Mansoor Naderi in 2020, a position also approved by then-President Ashraf Ghani.

Escaping bomb blast
Nabizada survived a bomb blast on February 1, 2021. The incident happened in PD10, Kabul, while he was on the way to work. Several national and international agencies, including Afghan and NATO officials, have condemned the attack.

Immigrating to the United States
In August 2021, during Operation Allies Refuge, Nabizada and his family all escaped in American military planes from Afghanistan to Wisconsin in the United States. They later moved to Virginia. Nabizada and his wife Razia have two daughters (Artisa and Armita) and one son (Arash). He advocates for freedom of speech and human rights in Afghanistan.