Foreign Policy recently profiled the rise of increasingly prolific blogger, Nasim Fekrat, who is the creator of the blog Afghan Lord. Fekrat, frustrated that Afghanistan was seen merely as a breeding ground for extremism, wanted to show the world a different side to his homeland:

"People outside of Afghanistan have no idea what really exists here," a deep-voiced 26-year-old blogger named Nasim Fekrat says. "I was searching for Helmand [on the Internet] the other day. The only things that came up were about terrorists and suicide and bombs. But there is another side to Helmand, another face. There is agriculture, art, museums, culture."

On his groundbreaking blog, Afghan Lord, Fekrat hopes to tell that to the world. Writing in Farsi as well as self-taught English, he has taken it upon himself to show Afghanistan's softer, more genuine face. Until recently, he feels, this face was nearly impossible to find.

The blog not only documents what is happening in Afghanistan, but also reveals the extent to which the power of the internet can be harnessed to bring people together. With the popularity of Fekrat's blog rising, many would-be Afghan bloggers, eager to have their voices heard, are rushing to his blog school to learn how to navigate the sprawling world of the internet. With someone like Fekrat advocating the proliferation of internet use in Afghanistan, the possibilities for change in the country are limitless:

"People have realized that there is an audience, and there is a way to [disperse] information. Everybody here knows about what happened in the Iran election, and they know how the Internet and blogs changed it."

Of course, Afghanistan is facing an election of its own, and the growing Afghan blogosphere will have a role to play, however small in a country where only one in 30 has Internet access. "Before, people always had to ask 'What is a blog?', and that is changing," Fekrat says.

In the meantime, Fekrat's mission remains showing Afghanistan to the world -- and spurring Afghanistan to put itself online. I asked him what he hopes to achieve with his journalism and community-building in the next year. "We are people and we need connection. For you, Annie, to understand me as a human being, as an Afghan, as a human being who has feelings, love, hatred, and culture, is listening to the same music as Annie listens to."