Azmat Khan

Investigative reporter; professor at Columbia Journalism School

Azmat Khan investigates the human costs of war by comparing military accounts with documents and testimony from people affected by airstrikes. Her “The Civilian Casualty Files” series developed over more than five years and included fieldwork at the sites of over a hundred incidents in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. She used more than 1,300 formerly secret military records obtained through a legal battle with the Pentagon, alongside local and military interviews. The work, recognised in the New York Times' 2022 Pulitzer, demonstrates the importance of sustained scrutiny of official accounts concerning civilian protection and wartime accountability.