Hyder Akbar

Hyder Akbar was born in the year 1984 in Peshawar, Pakistan. He is an author and the former translator for the United States forces in Afghanistan.

Hyder who is a citizen of both Afghanistan and United States, went to Diablo Valley College and moved to Yale University. Hyder came from a political family, together with Said Shamsouding Majroh, the architect of the first constitution of the country, Afghanistan in the year 1964 and who worked as the Minister of Justice and Head of Tribal Affairs; Said Bahaoudin Majroh that worked as the Governor and was seen as one of the leading intellectuals of the country; the other influential member of the family was Shal Pacha, who is a tribal leader that has a strong influence in the eastern province and also in the FATA regions of Pakistan. Hyder’s father is Said Fazel Akber, a one-time governor of the Kunar region of Afghanistan.

source of picture: www.nytimes.com

As he was helping the United States forces, Hyder encouraged a man from Afghanistan, Abdul Wali to turn himself in and promised him that he will not be treated in any way bad. Hyder took Wali the United States base and worked as the translator for David Passaro, who is the former Special Forces soldier that was hired by the CIA on contract to work as the interrogator, even when he has little or no idea on interrogation. Hyder described Passaro as ‘full of rage’ and that he stopped working for him because his aggressiveness went out of hand. When he left Wali was beaten by Passaro and he died out of the injuries that he sustained from the beating.

Because of the testimony Hyder made and a letter that came from his father, reading that Passaro produced distrust and set back rebuilding effort. Passaro was convicted for assault and he was sentenced to 8 years and 4 month imprisonment on the 14^th February, 2007.

Later, Hyder co-authored with Susan Burton, a book that is about his experience in his country, which he named ‘Come back to Afghanistan’. This particular book was given several honors such as; USA Today’s Top 10 Memoirs, San Francisco Chronicle Book of the Year, ALA Top 10 Books for Young Readers and New York Times Editor’s Pick.

Hyder has as well completed two documentaries for the Peabody-winning This American Life on NPR. The first of the documents engrossed on the life in Kabul in the Post-Taliban Afghanistan and the difficulties that faced the central government of the country. The second of the documents was based on the time he spent in Kunar region of the country, which is an impulsive region of the border with the Pakistan. Hyder’s work on the NPR gained a national journalism award, a third coast international silver prize as well as an Overseas Press Club citation.

Hyder has showed up on the Mornig edition of the the BBC and PBS world news. Also he has been seen in the GQ, New York Magazine as well as the Los Angeles Times and several other publications. Hyder has written several articles for the New York Times and Slate.

Together with his works in the media, Hyder has been also involved with the Stamnford University’s Hoover Institution in documenting and keeping the record of the current events on Afghanistan.

He was also the co-director of the Wadan Afghanistan, which is an NGO that he formed to focus on the fast impact rebuilding projects in the native region of the Kunar in the country. The NGO reconstructed schools and assisted some villages with the access to water and some other things.

Hyder is good in English language, Urdu, Hindi, Pashto and Dari.

While Hyder was in Yale, he became the subject of controversy when together with two other scholars; he was arrested for arson when he burned the American Flag. He admitted to have burnt the flag and had to indulge in 50 hours of community service.