Elyas Nawandish is a former Afghanistan Observatory Scholar at New America. He has worked with the Kabul-based Etilaat Roz daily since 2014. He is currently the online chief editor of the paper. In this role, he supervises a team of 20 journalists, documenters, and reporters in coordination with other departments from the daily to ensure smooth and quality production. Prior to being promoted to this role, he served as news manager, investigative reporter, and text editor in the daily. Over the course of his work, he has produced around 160 reports and editorials including 12 investigative reports on corruption, rule of law, and abuse of state resources by former Afghan government officials. His investigations have primarily focused on politics, security, governance, corruption, and human rights.
Nawandish holds a bachelor’s degree in Dari language and literature from Kabul University, which he graduated from in 2014. He also completed an essential journalism course at Nai Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan supported by USAID in 2014.
His research project with the Afghanistan Observatory focuses on the role of corruption in the collapse of the Afghan government.