Akbar Shahid Ahmed
@akbarshahidahmed.huffpost.com
Senior Diplomatic Correspondent at HuffPost // Writing a book on Gaza and the Biden administration for W. W. Norton // he/him
Say hi: akbar.58 on Signal or [email protected]
Say hi: akbar.58 on Signal or [email protected]
To staff at the Post who were targeted today: you helped millions understand the world better, with determination, clarity & style. Thank you. Know that many of us stand ready to support you in any way we can.
February 4, 2026 at 4:28 PM
To staff at the Post who were targeted today: you helped millions understand the world better, with determination, clarity & style. Thank you. Know that many of us stand ready to support you in any way we can.
From an incredibly diligent, brave, humane, and insightful reporter, an essential read - get your copy ASAP.
3 yrs ago I started writing a book that is in stores TODAY. It's narrative nonfiction, anti-fascist spy thriller set in Trump era. It's timely as hell & I'm proud of it.
A thread of what people are saying abt it & why I hope you'll help make it a bestseller www.simonandschuster.com/books/To-Cat...
A thread of what people are saying abt it & why I hope you'll help make it a bestseller www.simonandschuster.com/books/To-Cat...
February 3, 2026 at 6:53 PM
From an incredibly diligent, brave, humane, and insightful reporter, an essential read - get your copy ASAP.
Reposted by Akbar Shahid Ahmed
My view is that US armed forces have been introduced into hostilities with Iran for the purposes of the War Powers Resolution.
February 3, 2026 at 5:45 PM
My view is that US armed forces have been introduced into hostilities with Iran for the purposes of the War Powers Resolution.
Amid US-backed massacres+starvation in Gaza, Biden aides didn’t change course partly because they feared looking insufficiently pro-Israel. Today, out of office + without consequences for atrocities, they’re fighting the same fight. Revealing both about them + the effect of a lack of accountability.
February 1, 2026 at 6:42 PM
Amid US-backed massacres+starvation in Gaza, Biden aides didn’t change course partly because they feared looking insufficiently pro-Israel. Today, out of office + without consequences for atrocities, they’re fighting the same fight. Revealing both about them + the effect of a lack of accountability.
NEW-Chances of diplomacy averting a Trump strike on Iran + bloody spiral are withering
-Admin's talking political targets (torpedoing diplomacy) + feel Iran has no option but big concessions
-US+Arab officials lobbying against attack report limited progress/influence
www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
-Admin's talking political targets (torpedoing diplomacy) + feel Iran has no option but big concessions
-US+Arab officials lobbying against attack report limited progress/influence
www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
It Looks Inevitable That Trump Will Strike Iran
Sources tell HuffPost that the diplomatic effort to avert war is slipping.
www.huffpost.com
January 31, 2026 at 12:21 AM
NEW-Chances of diplomacy averting a Trump strike on Iran + bloody spiral are withering
-Admin's talking political targets (torpedoing diplomacy) + feel Iran has no option but big concessions
-US+Arab officials lobbying against attack report limited progress/influence
www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
-Admin's talking political targets (torpedoing diplomacy) + feel Iran has no option but big concessions
-US+Arab officials lobbying against attack report limited progress/influence
www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
Reposted by Akbar Shahid Ahmed
This just in from Amnesty International: "U.S. authorities must immediately release journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort. Journalism is not a crime. Reporting on protests is not a crime. Arresting journalists for their reporting is a clear example of an authoritarian practice."
January 30, 2026 at 6:57 PM
This just in from Amnesty International: "U.S. authorities must immediately release journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort. Journalism is not a crime. Reporting on protests is not a crime. Arresting journalists for their reporting is a clear example of an authoritarian practice."
Vital reporting on Gaza info blocked by US officials (one a current ambassador).
Biden aides did not just sustain arms for Israel despite signs of misconduct + breaches of international/US law — they made even *considering* a policy shift very hard through their handling of intel+humanitarian info
Biden aides did not just sustain arms for Israel despite signs of misconduct + breaches of international/US law — they made even *considering* a policy shift very hard through their handling of intel+humanitarian info
"The staff reported seeing a human femur and other bones on the roads, dead bodies abandoned in cars and 'catastrophic human needs, particularly for food and safe drinking water.'"
www.reuters.com/world/early-...
www.reuters.com/world/early-...
Exclusive: Early warning of 'Apocalyptic Wasteland' in Gaza blocked by US envoys to Israel
U.S. Agency for International Development staffers in early 2024 drafted a warning to senior officials in Joe Biden’s administration: Northern Gaza had turned into an “Apocalyptic Wasteland” with dire...
www.reuters.com
January 30, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Vital reporting on Gaza info blocked by US officials (one a current ambassador).
Biden aides did not just sustain arms for Israel despite signs of misconduct + breaches of international/US law — they made even *considering* a policy shift very hard through their handling of intel+humanitarian info
Biden aides did not just sustain arms for Israel despite signs of misconduct + breaches of international/US law — they made even *considering* a policy shift very hard through their handling of intel+humanitarian info
Reposted by Akbar Shahid Ahmed
Solidarity to @huffpostunion.bsky.social
HuffPost Union just delivered a strike pledge signed by 100% of our members. We are united and prepared to do whatever is necessary to reach a fair deal. #faircontractnow
January 30, 2026 at 12:46 AM
Solidarity to @huffpostunion.bsky.social
It’s time for HuffPost management to deliver a fair contract respecting our contributions to the company and showing a commitment to our stated ideals.
HuffPost Union just delivered a strike pledge signed by 100% of our members. We are united and prepared to do whatever is necessary to reach a fair deal. #faircontractnow
January 30, 2026 at 12:42 AM
It’s time for HuffPost management to deliver a fair contract respecting our contributions to the company and showing a commitment to our stated ideals.
President Biden twice said he had "no confidence" in the numbers from Palestinians about deaths in Gaza — a position that helped justify his policy of enabling Israeli attacks there.
Today, the IDF said it accepts the Gaza ministry's numbers. I've asked Biden's spox if he has regrets. Stay tuned.
Today, the IDF said it accepts the Gaza ministry's numbers. I've asked Biden's spox if he has regrets. Stay tuned.
January 29, 2026 at 4:45 PM
President Biden twice said he had "no confidence" in the numbers from Palestinians about deaths in Gaza — a position that helped justify his policy of enabling Israeli attacks there.
Today, the IDF said it accepts the Gaza ministry's numbers. I've asked Biden's spox if he has regrets. Stay tuned.
Today, the IDF said it accepts the Gaza ministry's numbers. I've asked Biden's spox if he has regrets. Stay tuned.
Reposted by Akbar Shahid Ahmed
Hot off the presses 📰
Bargaining committee was on 🔥 yesterday & we’re back at the table today! We won’t back down as we fight for just compensation, equitable severance and AI protections that let us create the fearless, top-notch journalism the world needs now. ✊ #faircontractnow
Bargaining committee was on 🔥 yesterday & we’re back at the table today! We won’t back down as we fight for just compensation, equitable severance and AI protections that let us create the fearless, top-notch journalism the world needs now. ✊ #faircontractnow
January 29, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Hot off the presses 📰
Bargaining committee was on 🔥 yesterday & we’re back at the table today! We won’t back down as we fight for just compensation, equitable severance and AI protections that let us create the fearless, top-notch journalism the world needs now. ✊ #faircontractnow
Bargaining committee was on 🔥 yesterday & we’re back at the table today! We won’t back down as we fight for just compensation, equitable severance and AI protections that let us create the fearless, top-notch journalism the world needs now. ✊ #faircontractnow
Such doubt was consistently echoed by senior officials in Biden admin deliberations, thru the end of their tenure — driving top officials to doubt humanitarian + intelligence experts unlike elsewhere & making it hard to justify shifts in US policy that could have saved lives.
More soon in my book.
More soon in my book.
I cannot tell you how much doubt was consistently directed at the Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty numbers and how much pressure was put on news organizations to couch those numbers as unreliable.
Biden himself said they were fabricated!
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Biden himself said they were fabricated!
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
IDF accepts Gaza Health Ministry death toll of over 71,000 Palestinians killed in the war
Although Many International Experts Have Accepted the Health Ministry's Data as Reliable, and Even Conservative Relative to the True Death Toll, Israel Had Refused to Accept the Health Ministry's Coun...
www.haaretz.com
January 29, 2026 at 4:11 PM
Such doubt was consistently echoed by senior officials in Biden admin deliberations, thru the end of their tenure — driving top officials to doubt humanitarian + intelligence experts unlike elsewhere & making it hard to justify shifts in US policy that could have saved lives.
More soon in my book.
More soon in my book.
Reposted by Akbar Shahid Ahmed
NEW: Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old who ICE agents in Minneapolis nabbed last week and shipped off to a Texas detention facility with his dad, is now in poor health, his school superintendent told me today www.huffpost.com/entry/liam-c...
5-Year-Old in ICE Detention Is Sick, Says Top School Official
The 5-year-old who was taken by federal agents in Minneapolis is being held behind bars with his father in Texas.
www.huffpost.com
January 28, 2026 at 9:59 PM
NEW: Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old who ICE agents in Minneapolis nabbed last week and shipped off to a Texas detention facility with his dad, is now in poor health, his school superintendent told me today www.huffpost.com/entry/liam-c...
"National guard deployments around the country since June 2025 have cost more than $500 million, according to the Congressional Budget Office. With no end dates set ...the office estimated 2026 could bring the total cost to more than $1 billion."
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
Update from Robert Jimison
www.nytimes.com
January 28, 2026 at 9:13 PM
"National guard deployments around the country since June 2025 have cost more than $500 million, according to the Congressional Budget Office. With no end dates set ...the office estimated 2026 could bring the total cost to more than $1 billion."
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
Reposted by Akbar Shahid Ahmed
Everyone deserves a piece of the cheese! 🧀 #faircontractnow #huffpost #WGAE
Lil Scabby has
@huffpostunion
’s back as we head into our final days of bargaining for ✊✊
Crochet mascot cutie courtesy of HP Union’s
@capeybara
Lil Scabby has
@huffpostunion
’s back as we head into our final days of bargaining for ✊✊
Crochet mascot cutie courtesy of HP Union’s
@capeybara
January 28, 2026 at 4:52 PM
Everyone deserves a piece of the cheese! 🧀 #faircontractnow #huffpost #WGAE
Lil Scabby has
@huffpostunion
’s back as we head into our final days of bargaining for ✊✊
Crochet mascot cutie courtesy of HP Union’s
@capeybara
Lil Scabby has
@huffpostunion
’s back as we head into our final days of bargaining for ✊✊
Crochet mascot cutie courtesy of HP Union’s
@capeybara
Reposted by Akbar Shahid Ahmed
Along w/ Huberman, CBS also announced Mark Hyman, a longtime RFK Jr ally and functional medicine proponent, and Peter Attia, a longevity influencer, as contributors. All three were cited by Kennedy in a recent interview as the best people for lifestyle advice.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Bari Weiss to CBS News staff: Without a shift in strategy, ‘we are toast’
The CBS News editor in chief said the network needs to produce journalism people want as she named a raft of new contributors from her website, the Free Press.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 28, 2026 at 1:59 AM
Along w/ Huberman, CBS also announced Mark Hyman, a longtime RFK Jr ally and functional medicine proponent, and Peter Attia, a longevity influencer, as contributors. All three were cited by Kennedy in a recent interview as the best people for lifestyle advice.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Reposted by Akbar Shahid Ahmed
In response to announcement that he will be a new CBS contributor, Andrew Huberman tweeted “I’ve always gone issue-by-issue on health & science, spoken to experts w/a range of takes & presented where I see the center of (data) mass pointed. I’ll do the same with @CBSNews”. In Sept he posted this:
January 28, 2026 at 1:44 AM
In response to announcement that he will be a new CBS contributor, Andrew Huberman tweeted “I’ve always gone issue-by-issue on health & science, spoken to experts w/a range of takes & presented where I see the center of (data) mass pointed. I’ll do the same with @CBSNews”. In Sept he posted this:
As people urge Democrats to challenge Trump+crackdowns, some party figures are fixating on a different target: folks who in 2024 focused on Gaza. Simultaneously:
1) inaccurate on their effect/views
2) a way to avoid any accountability for Biden-era choices
3) alienating+dismissive to voters Ds need
1) inaccurate on their effect/views
2) a way to avoid any accountability for Biden-era choices
3) alienating+dismissive to voters Ds need
January 25, 2026 at 6:03 PM
As people urge Democrats to challenge Trump+crackdowns, some party figures are fixating on a different target: folks who in 2024 focused on Gaza. Simultaneously:
1) inaccurate on their effect/views
2) a way to avoid any accountability for Biden-era choices
3) alienating+dismissive to voters Ds need
1) inaccurate on their effect/views
2) a way to avoid any accountability for Biden-era choices
3) alienating+dismissive to voters Ds need
Follow my colleague Jen for live updates on the situation in Minneapolis:
This is crazy. These are just regular people out here, wearing snow goggles and gas masks, holding cardboard signs telling ICE to GTFO of MN as federal agents spray tear gas and set off flash bangs or whatever the hell those booms are.
More people rolling out trash cans, and now couches.
More people rolling out trash cans, and now couches.
January 24, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Follow my colleague Jen for live updates on the situation in Minneapolis:
Can’t stop thinking about the fact that Jared Kushner this week said the US is expecting “catastrophic success” in Gaza. The scale of the brutality + hubris of American policy there are hard to fully grasp — and much of the devastation under Trump is because of the course set by the Biden admin.
The attack hits civilians gathering firewood near Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, sources say.
Israeli drone strike kills two children collecting firewood in Gaza
The attack hits civilians gathering firewood near Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, sources say.
www.aljazeera.com
January 24, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Can’t stop thinking about the fact that Jared Kushner this week said the US is expecting “catastrophic success” in Gaza. The scale of the brutality + hubris of American policy there are hard to fully grasp — and much of the devastation under Trump is because of the course set by the Biden admin.
Reposted by Akbar Shahid Ahmed
Wild that DOJ is investigating Minnesota anti-ICE church protesters on FACE Act charges. FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) was created to protect abortion clinics back in the 90s. Republicans have been working to repeal it in full & Trump has loosened enforcement, pardoning 23 extremists.
January 23, 2026 at 6:29 PM
Wild that DOJ is investigating Minnesota anti-ICE church protesters on FACE Act charges. FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) was created to protect abortion clinics back in the 90s. Republicans have been working to repeal it in full & Trump has loosened enforcement, pardoning 23 extremists.
Reposted by Akbar Shahid Ahmed
An Iranian man being deported last fall told NYT he was so afraid of returning to Iran that tried to slit his wrists on the tarmac before being loaded onto an ICE flight. He soon escaped Iran again, and his family was being harassed by the revolutionary guard.
My org @immcouncil.org represents those two gay men. They had been arrested on charges of sodomy by Iranian moral police, and fled the country seeking asylum. They face the death penalty if returned, yet the Trump admin denied their asylum claims in a kangaroo court process.
They are terrified.
They are terrified.
January 23, 2026 at 2:50 PM
An Iranian man being deported last fall told NYT he was so afraid of returning to Iran that tried to slit his wrists on the tarmac before being loaded onto an ICE flight. He soon escaped Iran again, and his family was being harassed by the revolutionary guard.
Starting at 11am ET, I’ll be live on @npr.org analyzing the major international developments of the week — Greenland, Gaza & more.
Tune in if you can & reach out if there are questions or issues you’d like to hear discussed 🙏🏽🧿
Tune in if you can & reach out if there are questions or issues you’d like to hear discussed 🙏🏽🧿
January 23, 2026 at 2:29 PM
Starting at 11am ET, I’ll be live on @npr.org analyzing the major international developments of the week — Greenland, Gaza & more.
Tune in if you can & reach out if there are questions or issues you’d like to hear discussed 🙏🏽🧿
Tune in if you can & reach out if there are questions or issues you’d like to hear discussed 🙏🏽🧿
“The genocide in Gaza was a rehearsal for abandoning the principles of law, humanity & respect…The experiment went well and is now being applied elsewhere, as in Venezuela, Greenland & the streets of Minneapolis” - EU official to me on what they see as the broader forces behind this week’s crisis.
U.S. Allies Say They've Never Been So Freaked Out By Trump
European officials told HuffPost about their terrifying week living through the Greenland crisis.
www.huffpost.com
January 23, 2026 at 5:01 AM
“The genocide in Gaza was a rehearsal for abandoning the principles of law, humanity & respect…The experiment went well and is now being applied elsewhere, as in Venezuela, Greenland & the streets of Minneapolis” - EU official to me on what they see as the broader forces behind this week’s crisis.
Reposted by Akbar Shahid Ahmed
People are saying To Catch a Fascist: The Fight to Expose the Radical Right sounds very interesting and is worth preordering - I couldn’t agree more! www.simonandschuster.com/books/To-Cat...
January 22, 2026 at 11:10 PM
People are saying To Catch a Fascist: The Fight to Expose the Radical Right sounds very interesting and is worth preordering - I couldn’t agree more! www.simonandschuster.com/books/To-Cat...