Ayesha Tanzeem
is an award-winning journalist and preeminent thought leader who has shaped global narratives in support of democracy, human rights, and freedom of the press. With more than two decades of frontline experience reporting from some of the world’s most volatile zones, she brings an unmatched blend of editorial vision, crisis leadership, and global media strategy.
Tanzeem has covered wars, conflicts, and humanitarian crises across dozens of countries—including the war in Afghanistan, the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe, and the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States. She was among the first international journalists to travel undercover to areas controlled by the Islamic State group (ISIS-Khorasan) in Afghanistan, in the very region where the United States later dropped its largest non-nuclear weapon, the “Mother of All Bombs.” Her gripping reports, often produced under extreme pressure, have earned her multiple international honors, including the New York Festivals TV & Film Awards and the David Burke Distinguished Journalism Awards.
As a correspondent and anchor, Tanzeem has led prestigious assignments—interviewing heads of state, anchoring U.S. election specials, and going live from the convention hall during President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech.
She has served as the highest-ranking journalist of Pakistani origin in global media, overseeing Voice of America’s South & Central Asia Division—where she led hundreds of journalists across 10 countries producing multimedia content in more than a dozen languages. Tanzeem’s digital strategy skyrocketed VOA’s reach, achieving 2.5 billion annual video views—a 47% increase, including a 300% growth on Instagram. Her efforts solidified VOA’s status as a trusted news source in Pakistan, Turkey, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, with 94% audience trust among Afghan users despite Taliban censorship.
A fearless correspondent, she was on the ground in Kabul when the Taliban seized control in 2021. After being interrogated by Taliban fighters, she briefly went into hiding—only to continue reporting from inside and outside Kabul airport during the chaotic mass evacuations. When journalists’ lives were at risk, she orchestrated the daring evacuation of hundreds of colleagues and their families, securing Pakistani visas and chartering a plane after commercial flights were suspended. She returned to Afghanistan multiple times after the takeover, until the Taliban placed her on a blacklist barring further entry.
In response to the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education beyond sixth grade, Tanzeem launched English learning courses in Dari and Pashto on VOA’s 24/7 satellite TV channel—empowering Afghan girls to access education from their homes under Taliban rule.
Having lived and worked across Asia, Europe, and North America, Tanzeem brings a truly global lens to her work. She is fluent in English, Urdu, Hindi, and Punjabi, and has a working knowledge of Dari.
A sought-after speaker and mentor, she has led conflict reporting workshops and spoken at leading institutions including Yale, Columbia, the Brookings Institution, and the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Through her unique combination of frontline reporting, strategic vision, and operational leadership, Ayesha Tanzeem remains a trusted force in global journalism—amplifying silenced voices and telling the stories that shape our world.