Hollie McKay

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Hollie McKay
Born (1985-10-05) 5 October 1985 (age 38)
Queensland, Australia
Alma mater Pace University (BA)
OccupationJournalist

Hollie McKay is an Australian born journalist who formerly worked for Fox News. She is a national bureau correspondent covering national and international news from Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, Yemen, Myanmar and Ukraine.

Contents

Early life and education

Hollie McKay was born 5 October 1985 in Mackay, Queensland. She attended The McDonald College in Sydney for secondary school. [1]

In 2000, she published a novel entitled Sworn to Secrecy. [2] [3] McKay studied Communications at the University of Technology Sydney before moving to New York City in 2006 to complete her final semester at Pace University. [4] [5]

Career

After moving to New York, McKay began working as an intern at Fox News. [5] She later moved to Los Angeles. [4] She reported on entertainment news with an online column and a series of television segments. [5] From 2007 to 2013, McKay wrote an entertainment column called "Pop Tarts" for the Fox News website, and appeared on Fox News television broadcasts in a series of segments called "Hollie on Hollywood".

McKay has reported on Clint Eastwood, Anthony Bourdain, and the Ferguson unrest of 2014. [6] [7] [8]

Since 2014, McKay has served as an investigative reporter and foreign correspondent for the Fox national bureau. She has reported extensively from the battlefields in Iraq, including embedded service with U.S. and Australian forces. [9] During her investigative reporting in Iraq from 2014-2020, McKay uncovered mass sex-slavery perpetrated by ISIS, particularly against Yazidis. McKay documented dozens of witness and first hand survivor accounts to be used in later tribunals and court cases in Iraq. [10] [11]

In 2017, McKay returned to New York City, where she became a member of Fox Digital Studio's "original news" staff. Also in 2017, McKay reported extensively from Kabul, Afghanistan, the Panjshir Valley, and other areas of the country. In her reporting, she interviewed a wide range of Afghan government officials, members of the Afghan National Security Forces, and others, including Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, former President Hamid Karzai, former Vice President Ahmad Zia Massoud, and Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum (Dostum was interviewed by McKay while he was in temporary exile in Turkey). In Afghanistan, McKay investigated and reported on numerous subjects including the status of women and Women's rights in Afghanistan, Taliban attacks on Afghan forces, and how terrorists enter Afghanistan. [12] [13] [14]

McKay maintains a permanent press pass to the United Nations. She met with Pakistani Ambassador Khalid Mahmood on March 19, 2018 discussion counter-terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan. [15] She has reported on issues related to the Kashmir conflict. [16]

McKay was a human rights and cultural consultant advisor to Infinity Ward for the creation of the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. In that role, McKay crafted story ideas and features for their behind-the-scenes global promotional materials. McKay was featured in the 2019 documentary about the game's authentic recreation of actual battle conditions. [17] [18]

McKay serves on the Honorary and Advisory Board of the humanitarian NGO Emergency USA which supports healthcare to victims of war, poverty and landmines in Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Italy, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Uganda. [19]

Books

In 2021, McKay published Only Cry for the Living, a historical work that chronicles the human stories she encountered in while covering the war with ISIS between 2014 and 2019. [20] The publisher's synopsis on Amazon.com:

Only once in a lifetime does a war so brutal erupt. A war that becomes an official genocide, causes millions to run from their homes, compels the slaughtering of thousands in the most horrific of ways, and inspires terrorist attacks to transpire across the world. That is the chilling legacy of the ISIS onslaught, and Only Cry for the Living takes a profoundly personal, unprecedented dive into one of the most brutal terrorist organizations in the world. Journalist Hollie S. McKay offers a raw, on-the-ground journey chronicling the rise of ISIS in Iraq exposing the group's vast impact and how and why it sought to wage terror on civilians in a desperate attempt to create an antiquated caliphate. The book, constructed chronologically through memos, captures the historical impact of ISIS across Iraq and Syria, as seen through the eyes of sex slave survivors, internally displaced people, persecuted minorities, humanitarian workers, religious leaders, military commanders, and even the terrorists themselves. It is not only a book that casts a haunting light on some of the darkest corners of the globe, but it is also a narrative brimming with silver-linings that illuminate the resiliency of the human spirit. It is a tragedy underscored by the heroic efforts of ordinary human beings to pick up the pieces, to fight back, and to believe that their voices matter. To truly understand the nature of terrorism and extremism to stop another ISIS from spilling needless blood we must listen to the lessons of those who lived it, fought it, joined it and rejected it.

In 2023, McKay released Afghanistan: The End of the US Footprint and the Rise of the Taliban Rule. [21] The publisher synopsis reads,

Coffee-table style collection of premium photographs and writing*

Overnight, Afghanistan dramatically transformed. One chapter – a twenty-year epoch heralded by the attacks of September 11, the U.S. invasion and propping up an ailing government – shuttered on August 15, 2021. Another entirely new – albeit old – chapter flipped open under the stringent ruling of the Taliban.

Officially termed the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, it’s a government that triggers immense fear among the population, having reigned with an iron fist pre-9/11 and waged a brutal insurgency from the mountaintops that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Afghans and foreigners.

Veteran war reporters – writer Hollie McKay and photographer Jake Simkin – walk you through the fall of the U.S. and the rise of the Taliban, drawing you into the minds of the new regime and into the hearts of the Afghanistan people.

“Afghanistan: The End of the U.S. Footprint and the Rise of the Taliban Rule” is a chilling bloody, yet beautiful visual expedition through one of the most magical yet wounded parcels of the planet. It is a place where poppies grow wild and men in the mountains cradle guns like children. It’s a place where kites fly high, and everyone has a war story, even though most never chose to go to war.

Welcome to Afghanistan after the cataclysmic fall. The band-aid over the bullet wound has been ripped off, and “Afghanistan” will guide you into the maze of dust, debris and delicacy the way no journalistic endeavor has done before.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Qaeda</span> Pan-Islamic Sunni Jihadist terrorist organization (established 1988)

Al-Qaeda is a pan-Islamist militant organization led by Sunni Jihadists who self-identify as a vanguard spearheading a global Islamist revolution to unite the Muslim world under a supra-national Islamic state known as the Caliphate. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include people from other ethnic groups. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian, economic and military targets of the US and its allies; such as the 1998 US embassy bombings, the USS Cole bombing and the September 11 attacks. The organization is designated as a terrorist group by NATO, UN Security Council, the European Union, and various countries around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taliban</span> Government of Afghanistan

The Taliban, which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a militant organization in Afghanistan with an ideology comprising elements of Pashtun nationalism and the Deobandi current of Islamic fundamentalism. It ruled approximately three-quarters of the country from 1996 to 2001, before being overthrown following the American invasion. It recaptured Kabul on 15 August 2021 following the departure of most coalition forces, after nearly 20 years of insurgency, and currently controls all of the country. However, its government is not recognized by any country. The Taliban government has been internationally condemned for restricting human rights in Afghanistan, including the right of women and girls to work and to have an education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaish-e-Mohammed</span> Islamic Jihadist organisation

Jaish-e-Mohammed is a Pakistan-based Deobandi Jihadist terrorist group active in Kashmir. The group's primary motive is to separate Kashmir from India and merge it into Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inter-Services Intelligence</span> Military intelligence service of Pakistan

The Inter-Services Intelligence is the largest and best-known component of the Pakistani intelligence community. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant to Pakistan's national security. The ISI reports to its director-general and is primarily focused on providing intelligence to the Pakistani government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Alliance</span> 1996–2001 anti-Taliban military front in Afghanistan

The Northern Alliance, officially known as the United Islamic National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan, was a military alliance of groups that operated between early 1992 and 2001 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many non-Pashtun Northerners originally with the Republic of Afghanistan led by Mohammad Najibullah became disaffected with Pashtun Khalqi Afghan Army officers holding control over non-Pashtun militias in the North. Defectors such as Rashid Dostum and Abdul Momim allied with Ahmad Shah Massoud and Ali Mazari forming the Northern Alliance. The alliance's capture of Mazar-i-Sharif and more importantly the supplies kept there crippled the Afghan military and began the end of Najibullah's government. Following the collapse of Najibullah's government the Alliance would fall with a 2nd Civil war breaking out however following the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan's (Taliban) takeover of Kabul, The United Front was reassembled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afghan Civil War (1996–2001)</span> 1996–2001 civil war in Afghanistan

The 1996–2001 Afghan Civil War or the Third Afghan Civil War took place between the Taliban's conquest of Kabul and their establishing of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on 27 September 1996, and the US and UK invasion of Afghanistan on 7 October 2001: a period that was part of the Afghan Civil War that had started in 1989, and also part of the war in Afghanistan that had started in 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic State</span> Salafi jihadist militant Islamist group

The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and by its Arabic acronym Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist group and a former unrecognised quasi-state. Its origins were in the Jai'sh al-Taifa al-Mansurah organization founded by Abu Omar al-Baghdadi in 2004, which fought alongside al-Qaeda during the Iraqi insurgency. The group gained global prominence in 2014, when its militants successfully captured large territories in northwestern Iraq and eastern Syria, taking advantage of the ongoing Syrian civil war. By the end of 2015, it ruled an area with an estimated population of twelve million people, where it enforced its extremist interpretation of Islamic law, managed an annual budget exceeding US$1 billion, and commanded more than 30,000 fighters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War on terror</span> Military campaign following 9/11 attacks

The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is a global military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks and is the most recent global conflict spanning multiple wars. The main targets of the campaign are militant Islamist movements like Al-Qaeda, Taliban and their allies. Other major targets included the Ba'athist regime in Iraq, which was deposed in an invasion in 2003, and various militant factions that fought during the ensuing insurgency. After its territorial expansion in 2014, the Islamic State militia has also emerged as a key adversary of the United States.

Pakistan and state-sponsored terrorism refers to the involvement of Pakistan in terrorism through the backing of various designated terrorist organizations. Pakistan has been frequently accused by various countries, including its neighbours Afghanistan, Iran, and India, as well as by the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, of involvement in a variety of terrorist activities in both its local region of South Asia and beyond. Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border have been described as an effective safe haven for terrorists by Western media and the United States Secretary of Defense, while India has accused Pakistan of perpetuating the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir by providing financial support and armaments to militant groups, as well as by sending state-trained terrorists across the Line of Control and de jure India–Pakistan border to launch attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir and India proper, respectively. According to an analysis published by the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in 2008, Pakistan was reportedly, "with the possible exception of Iran, perhaps the world's most active sponsor of terrorist groups... aiding these groups that pose a direct threat to the United States. Pakistan's active participation has caused thousands of deaths in the region; all these years Pakistan has been supportive to several terrorist groups despite several stern warnings from the international community." Daniel Byman, a professor and senior analyst of terrorism and security at the Center For Middle East Policy, also wrote that, "Pakistan is probably 2008's most active sponsor of terrorism". In 2018, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, suggested that the Pakistani government played a role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that were carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist group. In July 2019, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, on an official visit to the United States, acknowledged the presence of some 30,000–40,000 armed terrorists operating on Pakistani soil. He further stated that previous administrations were hiding this truth, particularly from the United States, for the last 15 years during the War on Terror.

Pakistan's role in the War on Terror is a widely discussed topic among policy-makers of various countries, political analysts and international delegates around the world. Pakistan has simultaneously received allegations of harbouring and aiding terrorists and commendation for its anti-terror efforts. Since 2001, the country has also hosted millions of Afghan refugees who fled the war in Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afghan conflict</span> Near-continuous series of wars in Afghanistan

The Afghan conflict refers to the series of events that have kept Afghanistan in a near-continuous state of armed conflict since the 1970s. Early instability followed the collapse of the Kingdom of Afghanistan in the largely non-violent 1973 coup d'état, which deposed Afghan monarch Mohammad Zahir Shah in absentia, ending his 40-year-long reign. With the concurrent establishment of the Republic of Afghanistan, headed by Mohammad Daoud Khan, the country's relatively peaceful and stable period in modern history came to an end. However, all-out fighting did not erupt until after 1978, when the Saur Revolution violently overthrew Khan's government and established the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Subsequent unrest over the radical reforms that were being pushed by the then-ruling People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) led to unprecedented violence, prompting a large-scale pro-PDPA military intervention by the Soviet Union in 1979. In the ensuing Soviet–Afghan War, the anti-Soviet Afghan mujahideen received extensive support from Pakistan, the United States, and Saudi Arabia in a joint covert effort that was dubbed Operation Cyclone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War against the Islamic State</span> Military actions against the Islamic State

Many states began to intervene against the Islamic State, in both the Syrian Civil War and the War in Iraq (2013–2017), in response to its rapid territorial gains from its 2014 Northern Iraq offensives, universally condemned executions, human rights abuses and the fear of further spillovers of the Syrian Civil War. These efforts are called the War against the Islamic State, or the War against ISIS. In later years, there were also minor interventions by some states against IS-affiliated groups in Nigeria and Libya. All these efforts significantly degraded the Islamic State's capabilities by around 2019–2020. While moderate fighting continues in Syria, as of 2024, ISIS has been contained to a manageably small area and force capability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military of the Islamic State</span> Military unit

The Military of the Islamic State is the fighting force of the Islamic State (IS). The total force size at its peak was estimated from tens of thousands to over two hundred thousand. IS's armed forces grew quickly during its territorial expansion in 2014. The IS military, including groups incorporated into it in 2014, openly operates and controls territory in multiple cities in Libya and Nigeria. In October 2016, it conquered the city of Qandala in Puntland, Somalia. It conquered much of eastern Syria and western Iraq in 2014, territory it lost finally only in 2019. It also has had border clashes with and made incursions into Lebanon, Iran, and Jordan. IS-linked groups operate in Algeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and in West Africa. In January 2015, IS was also confirmed to have a military presence in Afghanistan and in Yemen.

The condition of human rights in the territory controlled by the Islamic State (IS) is considered to be one of the worst in the world. The Islamic State's policies included acts of genocide, torture and slavery. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) stated in November 2014 that the Islamic State "seeks to subjugate civilians under its control and dominate every aspect of their lives through terror, indoctrination, and the provision of services to those who obey". Many Islamic State actions of extreme criminality, terror, recruitment and other activities has been documented in the Middle East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic State – Khorasan Province</span> Islamic State branch in Central and South Asia

The Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISIS–K) is a regional branch of the Islamic State terrorist group active in South-Central Asia, primarily Afghanistan. ISIS–K, like its sister branches in other regions, seeks to destabilize and overthrow existing governments of the historic Khorasan region in order to establish an Islamic caliphate under its strict, fundamentalist Islamist rule.

Events in the year 2017 in Afghanistan.

References

  1. ↑ "Writer pens own success story". Daily Mercury . Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  2. ↑ Arnold, Johh and Hay, John (2001). Bibliography of Australian Literature, Volume 3. University of Queensland Press. p. 376. ISBN   9780702235986.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ↑ "Hollie's first novel". Muswellbrook Chronicle . Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  4. 1 2 Habib, Rasell (12 July 2011). "Hooray for Holliewood" (PDF). Inner West Courier. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 Domjen, Briana (3 July 2011). "Hollie's big gig in the Big Apple" (PDF). Sunday Telegraph . Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  6. ↑ Wilstein, Matt. "CNN Contradicts Fox Sources Claiming Darren Wilson Had Fractured Eye Socket, 21 August 2014". Mediaite . Retrieved 6 January 2017.
  7. ↑ Frulinger, Josh. "Fox News Suddenly Loves Hollywood Elitists After Clint Eastwood Yelled At A Chair". Wonkette . Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  8. ↑ Nguyen, Tina. "FEUD: Bourdain Blasts Fox After They Complain About His Cursing, 2013". Mediaite . Retrieved 6 January 2017.
  9. ↑ Williamson, Jamie. "Just Back from the Battlefield, Hollie McKay Reveals the Evil Among Us". No. Podcast. America Out Loud Network. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  10. ↑ McKay, Hollie. "Escape from ISIS: Yazidi woman recounts life as a sex slave" . Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  11. ↑ McKay, Hollie. "Yazidis seek rescue of women and children enslaved, married off to ISIS" . Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  12. ↑ McKay, Hollie. "Afghanistan women's pleas to US: 'Do not forget we are here'" . Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  13. ↑ McKay, Hollie. "Inside deadliest Taliban attack against Afghan troops" . Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  14. ↑ McKay, Hollie. "How terrorists freely enter Afghanistan and move around unhindered" . Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  15. ↑ Khan, Amina. "Report – In-House Meeting: Meeting with Ms Hollie McKay, Journalist, FOX News" (PDF). Institute_of_Strategic_Studies_Islamabad . Institute of StrateGic Studies, Islamabad. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  16. ↑ "Ultimate goal is to liberate Kashmir from India". website. Kashmir News Service. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  17. ↑ Mattone, James. "Announcement: The Story of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - Official Behind the Scenes Feature" . Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  18. ↑ Snider, Mark. "'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare' ramps up realism, so it's not just all fun and video games". USA Today . Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  19. ↑ "Emergency USA: Meet the Team". 26 July 2018.
  20. ↑ McKay, Hollie (2021). Only Cry for the Living. Jocko Publishing and Di Angelo Publishing. ISBN   978-1942549635.
  21. ↑ McKay, Hollie (2023). Afghanistan: The End of the US Footprint and the Rise of the Taliban Rule. Di Angelo Publishing. ISBN   978-1-955690-24-9.
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