Malali Bashir has been voted the most influential Twitter user in Afghanistan.

RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan reporter Malali Bashir has won in the Twitter Power User category at the Afghan Social Media Summit, which celebrates innovative social media use in Afghanistan.

Afghan social media users nominated Bashir, along with eight other candidates, for the award. After a round of public voting online, Bashir was among the four finalists who advanced to the final round, where a panel of judges will evaluate them based on their creativity, best practices in social media use, and impact in Afghanistan. Bashir was announced as the winner during a social media summit in Kabul October 20.

Bashir keeps her 17,300 Twitter followers informed on the Taliban’s takeover of Kunduz, corruption in the Afghan government, and other pressing issues in Afghanistan.

However, Bashir’s engagement with these issues goes beyond tweeting and retweeting. Bashir, who is from Zabul, Aghanistan, has covered a range of topics related to Afghanistan, often with a women’s rights perspective. Since she joined RFE/RL in April 2014, Bashir has interviewed activist Malala Yousafzai and Afghan First Lady Rula Ghani about their advocacy for women and girls.

Along with her work at RFE/RL, Bashir has written for BBCPashto, Foreign Policy, and The Daily Times, and she has edited Afghan magazines. She also runs the blog AfghanWatch. Prior to her journalistic work, Bashir was a Fulbright scholar at Brandeis University, where she earned her MBA in International Business.

--Sasha Peters

Article First published here.

Watch Award Announcement Video here.