Jackie Northam
Jackie Northam is NPR's International Affairs Correspondent. She is a veteran journalist who has spent three decades reporting on conflict, geopolitics, and life across the globe - from the mountains of Afghanistan and the desert sands of Saudi Arabia, to the gritty prison camp at Guantanamo Bay and the pristine beauty of the Arctic.
Northam spent more than a dozen years as an international correspondent living in London, Budapest, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, and Nairobi. She charted the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, reported from Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, and the rise of Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. She was in Islamabad to cover the Taliban recapturing Afghanistan
Her work has taken her to conflict zones around the world. Northam covered the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, arriving in the country just four days after Hutu extremists began slaughtering ethnic Tutsis. In Afghanistan, she accompanied Green Berets on a precarious mission to take a Taliban base. In Cambodia, she reported from Khmer Rouge strongholds.
Throughout her career, Northam has revealed the human experience behind the headlines, from the courage of Afghan villagers defying militant death threats to cast their vote in a national election, or exhausted rescue workers desperately searching for survivors following a massive earthquake in Haiti.
Northam joined NPR in 2000 as National Security Correspondent, covering defense and intelligence policies at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. She led the network's coverage of the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal and the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Her present beat focuses on the complex relationship between geopolitics and the global economy, including efforts to counter China's rising power.
Northam has received multiple journalism awards, including Associated Press and Edward R. Murrow awards, and was part of the NPR team that won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for "The DNA Files," a series about the science of genetics.
Originally from Canada, Northam spends her time off crewing in the summer, on the ski hills in the winter, and on long walks year-round with her beloved beagle, Tara.
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The Taliban made some big promises during its first press conference since capturing Afghanistan. They said they would protect a free media and women's rights, but within the framework of Islam law.
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President Biden spoke on the fall of Kabul and the end of the decades-long project in Afghanistan that unraveled over the past few days.
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Afghan officials told the Associated Press that President Ashraf Ghani left the country, and the Taliban said they will move further into Kabul.
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On day when things are moving and changing very quickly in Afghanistan, we turn now to NPR correspondents Jackie Northam, Franco Ordonez and Greg Myre for the latest.
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China and the Taliban are increasing their outreach to each other, as the insurgent group takes over much of Afghanistan.
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The Taliban have made rapid gains on the battlefield across Afghanistan. The Afghan government and security forces seem unable to stem the Taliban's advances.
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While Taliban militants retake control of large parts of Afghanistan, its leaders have been on a diplomatic blitz recently.
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The last phase of an extradition hearing for senior Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou begins in Vancouver, Canada. The trial has become part of a broader geopolitical struggle between the U.S. and China.
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The U.S. spent billions to support reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan over the past two decades. The results have been mixed. American experts are assessing some of the lessons learned.
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Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has been arresting his political opponents who are disappearing into prisons. Two of their wives are appealing to the U.S. to help.
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The U.S. and Germany have reached an agreement that will allow a controversial Russian natural gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2, to be completed, without incurring American sanctions.
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Journalist Danish Siddiqui was killed while covering a clash between Afghan forces and the Taliban. The 38-year-old Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer had worked with Reuters for more than a decade.