He’s Caught the Ears of Afghan Immigrants : Van Nuys: When Farouq Tamiz takes to the airwaves, he has a way of raising the dander of his countrymen.

He calls himself the Rush Limbaugh of the Afghan community.

By day, Farouq Tamiz is a real estate broker in Van Nuys, but every Tuesday night, his voice booms controversy into the homes of thousands of Afghan immigrants living in Southern California.

In the eight years since he created the Radio Voice of Afghanistan on KFOX 93.5-FM to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the 47-year-old Kabul native said he has endured threats, nasty letters, even a monthlong suspension by the station.

The controversy he generates has only enhanced his fame.

From the dozens of letters he gets each week from both fans and enemies to the regulars who frequent the Muslim Family Market in Van Nuys, everybody has an opinion of Tamiz. The show is the main topic of discourse for the estimated 1,000 Afghans who live in the Valley.

Tamiz points with pride how his supporters promised to stage a protest when he went off the air last spring. Dissenters promised to protest if he didn’t get taken off the air.

Tuesday nights are Tamiz nights in the Afghan community. Love him or hate him, they don’t want to miss him.

Some of his critics say Tamiz purposely seeks out the most inflammatory guests and does nothing but brew animosity on his two-hour weekly show.

“Individuals will say the radio program is not doing what it’s supposed to, that he fails to bring all views,” said Farid Amin, secretary general for the Islamic Studies and Invitational Center in Van Nuys, an organization with hundreds of Afghan members. “But a good number of people listen to his program. They don’t have anything else.”

Some are less forgiving.

David Abedi, chief of political affairs at the Afghan Mujahideen Information Bureau in Van Nuys, an Afghan news and information center, said Tamiz’ show is often inaccurate and an embarrassment to the Afghan community.

“As far as we are concerned no one is supporting him,” Abedi said. “Listening is something else. If you have one old car--even if it is very bad, or even if you know it might break down on the highway--if you don’t have anything else you will drive it.”

He added that the show pits Afghans of different political beliefs against one another.

“A radio station should bring peace and equality, and bring people together,” Abedi added. “It shouldn’t cause riots in the community.”

Aimal Hashemeyan, 30, a business owner in Ontario, who is a fan of the show, said the controversy is unavoidable.

“The problem with Afghanistan is that everything is political at this point,” he said.

While exact figures are unavailable, Abul Khalili, who heads the social service committee of the Islamic Studies Center, which assists Afghans with immigration papers, estimates that there are more than 9,000 Afghans living in Los Angeles County, with more than 1,000 in the Valley, mostly in Reseda, Van Nuys and Canoga Park.

Aside from a weekly Iranian-Afghan television program on KSCI, and a radio program begun by Tamiz’s brother several months ago, Tamiz’ show is the only source of Afghan news and culture for the community that is broadcast in the Pashto and Dari languages.

Tamiz, who in 1988 arranged an interview with Polish Solidarity resistance leader Lech Welesa from his Van Nuys office--which was cut short by the Soviet KGB--makes no apologies for his show.

“I’m a typical American media person,” Tamiz said. “I’m Sam Donaldson.” Later, he elaborated: “My goal is to explore the truth about politics in Afghanistan. I don’t stop myself when it comes to asking the hard and critical questions. It’s a new phenomenon for Afghans. They’re coming from a background of censorship.”

Last spring, Tamiz was prompted by pressure from the management at KFOX to depoliticize his show, when calls and letters to the station became particularly negative.

Tamiz credits the appearance on the show of a military general from the resistance movement in Afghanistan as the last straw. The general mocked the current prime minister of Afghanistan, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, using a crude name. Tamiz said the general changed Hekmatyar’s name which literally means “friend of knowledge” into someone who “makes holes in knowledge.” The slander caused an uproar in the fundamentalist community that backs Hekmatyar, according to Tamiz.

A spokesman for KFOX said that a break in the show and a discussion with Tamiz were not a ban, but merely an attempt to redefine the course of the program, which under its contract, is supposed to focus on culture, not politics.

“We frown on political shows,” KFOX operations manager Paul Wilson said. “We don’t want to be a conduit for political dissent. Mr. Tamiz seems to get a rush from inflaming emotions.”

Since then, Tamiz has introduced a program for Afghan youths with listener call-in and a variety of young guests who talk about social issues such as marriage, education, and reconciling Afghan beliefs with American ones. Yet it’s clear that Radio Voice of Afghanistan won’t become “Geraldo” any time soon.

“When the Communists were in power, my goal was to be against them until they were gone,” Tamiz said. “Now there are even more tragedies going on today than at the time of the Communists. Somebody has to say it. If I don’t, who would?”

Tamiz came to Los Angeles alone in 1969 when he was 23, to learn English and attend Cal State Los Angeles, eventually receiving a master’s degree in economics. He teaches a course in economics at Valley College.

Any Afghan politician who visits the United States can count on an invitation to Tamiz’s show. He has interviewed such dignitaries as the last Communist ruler, Najibullah, officials in Hekmatyar’s government, and all of the resistance leaders.

“I’ve interviewed practically everybody,” Tamiz said. “Except for the ex-King Mohammed Zahir Shah, but he lives in Rome and doesn’t talk on the phone.” Tamiz, who is married and has one daughter, said he has not been back to Afghanistan since he left in 1969.

“I would like to go back,” Tamiz said. “But I’m on the blacklist of every regime that comes into power.”