An interesting initiative in Afghanistan, which despite its current difficulties, is a good sign for the country and its media. "Ghombasa, or Wasp, which can be compared to UK's Private Eye or the French Canard Enchaîné is a 12-page, locally printed satirical magazine run by a team of five journalists who use humorous aliases such as Mullah Nasruddin -- a fictional cleric Afghans love to tell jokes about. According to AfghanMania, the monthly magazine has been shut down after a local politician failed to see the funny side of its jibes, in a case that highlights the difficulties faced by the country's media. The governor of southern Khost province, Merajudeen Patan, said he ordered all copies of Ghombasa, or Wasp, to be confiscated and destroyed earlier this month after the publication ran a spoof interview with him. Patan has not stopped at shutting the monthly publication down, according to its journalists. They say local police have arrested and harassed them while a bookseller who stocked the magazine was briefly detained earlier this month." We sincerely hope that this is not the last we'll hear of Ghombasa.

Source: AfghanMania