Lynne O’Donnell

Ochberg Fellow
2017

Lynne O’Donnell is Kabul Bureau Chief for The Associated Press, leading the agency’s coverage of Afghanistan at a time of transition and turmoil. Prior to joining AP, O’Donnell served as Kabul Bureau Chief for Agence France-Presse from 2009 to 2010. She won the 2010 Human Rights Press Award for a series of reports on the conditions faced by Afghan women. Previously, she was the Asia features editor for the French agency. She also covered major breaking news stories across the region for AFP, including terrorist attacks and natural disasters, as well as the 2008 Olympic Games. In the 1990’s, O’Donnell spent six years reporting on Chinese economic issues as a commodities specialist with Reuters, and was Beijing-based China correspondent for The Australian newspaper, where her beat included Mongolia and North Korea. She also covered the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, reporting from Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe, including the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 Iraq war.

In 2007, she authored “High Tea in Mosul: the True Story of Two Englishwomen in Iraq,” telling the story of how ordinary Iraqi people lived under Saddam Hussein’s rule, through the eyes of expatriate women married to Iraqis.