Günter Knabe

Journalist

Günter Knabe studied  political science and history. 1962-63 he was President of Students´ Parliament of University of Cologne and publisher of the „Universitäts-Zeitung" there.

1966/67 he worked as research assistant with  Prof.Klaus Mehnert (RWTH Aachen) on  „Intelligentia and Politics in Developing Countries". Knabe spent 3 months each for field studies in Afghanistan (1962) and Ghana (1964).

1967 he joined the German team at Kabul University, focussing his research on political developments in Afghanistan.

1979 Knabe joined  Deutsche Welle as editor in the  Afghanistan-programme. 1985 he became head of that programme.

The  Deutscher Bundestag invited  him  as an expert to an Afghanistan-hearing in 1984.

1981-91 Knabe was member of Deutsche Welle´s  Editors´ Committee and Chairman of the Union of Journalists at DW.

1990 Knabe became Head of the Asia Department of DW.

In 2003 he was appointed Diplomatic Correspondent of DW in Berlin for Asia and the Islamic world.

He interviewed exclusively for DW President  Karzai, Moh.Zaher (former King of Afghanistan), Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Pervez Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto, Moh.Khatami, the Aga Khan, Presdt. Lee Teng-hui (Taiwan), PM

S.Bayar of Mongolia and other leading figures of Asia.

After retiring from DW he is still working for German and international media as an expert on Asian affairs .