About Jane @JaneFerguson5
Jane is a Beirut-based special correspondent for the NewsHour, reporting from across the Middle East, Africa and beyond. Reporting highlights include front-line dispatches from the war against ISIS in Iraq, an up-close look at Houthi-controlled Yemen, and reports on the war and famine in South Sudan. Areas of particular interest are the ongoing cold war between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, Islamist groups around the world, and US foreign policy.
Her reporting on the brutal civil war in Yemen was honored with an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, a News and Documentary Emmy Award and a Peabody Award nomination. In February 2019, Ferguson was named the George Polk Award recipient for Foreign Television reporting.
Before coming to the NewsHour Jane reported extensively for Al Jazeera English and CNN International. Ferguson is a guest professor at Princeton University, where she teaches a course on war reporting. She has lived in the Middle East for 12 years and is fluent in Arabic.
Jane’s Recent Stories
World Feb 20
As peace talks with the Taliban stall, deadline to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan loomsLast February, former President Trump made a deal with the Taliban to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by May 1st, 2021. After two decades of partnership with the U.S. and its NATO allies, foreign forces are preparing to go home,…
World Feb 11
Abandoned by America and hunted by the Taliban, an Afghan fighter pilot faces new threatsThousands of Afghans who worked with the U.S. military are trying to get visas promised to them when they took the jobs. Naiem Asadi was one of Afghanistan’s most celebrated military helicopter pilots who was trained by Americans to fight.
World Feb 10
Afghan warlords and militias fill the security vacuum left by a weak central governmentAfghan security forces are strained to the limit and unable to stop rampant violence fracturing the country, as fighting has intensified between government forces and the Taliban. With the U.S. preparing to withdraw its troops, warlords and militias have been…
World Feb 09
Targeted assassinations against civil society create a climate of fear in AfghanistanAfghanistan has suffered immeasurable loss for years on battlefields and in bombings, but a recent campaign of assassinations has shocked the country. Kabul’s middle class neighborhoods are stalked and targeted by killers, picking off a generation of professionals. Special correspondent…
World Feb 08
In Afghanistan, Biden inherits America’s longest war and Trump’s peace dealLast year, the Trump administration signed a deal with the Taliban that would have U.S. and NATO troops out of Afghanistan by May 1. But with the U.S. presence in the country about to enter its third decade, peace talks…
World Feb 07
VP Saleh: Afghan people are tired of war but not ready to sell their soulsWith less than 100 days before American troops are scheduled to leave for good, Afghanistan’s Vice President Amrullah Saleh sat down with NewsHour Weekend special correspondent Jane Ferguson to discuss the agreement, America’s legacy here, what he sees as major…
World Jan 15
Meeting Trump’s goal in Afghanistan, U.S. forces are reduced to lowest level since 2001The U.S. Department of Defense announced Friday that military-force levels in Afghanistan are now at 2,500 service personnel -- the goal President Trump had set. This is the lowest number of American troops since the U.S. first invaded the country…
World Aug 21
After Beirut blast, Lebanese must turn to each other to avoid crisisIt has been nearly three weeks since an enormous explosion at Beirut’s port tore through the city. With Lebanon already suffering from food scarcity, economic collapse and the coronavirus pandemic, the blast turned a grim situation to dire crisis. In…
World Aug 18
Conviction in Hariri case increases pressure on HezbollahA special international tribunal has found a Hezbollah agent guilty of assassinating former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in a deadly blast 15 years ago. Although the decision doesn’t implicate Hezbollah explicitly, it comes at a tense moment for the…
World Aug 11
How deadly Beirut blasts pushed Lebanese to their breaking pointIt has been one week since an earth-shattering explosion ripped through Beirut, killing at least 220 and injuring thousands more. Since then, Lebanese have experienced sadness, rage and recrimination, with many blaming the blast on decades of government corruption and…