About Yalda Hakim

Yalda Hakim is an award-winning foreign correspondent and currently anchors the flagship program ‘Impact with Yalda Hakim’ on BBC World News. In addition to her presenting duties, Yalda continues to deliver hard-hitting journalism not only for the Our World strand, but also across BBC News in both television and radio.

Her interview with President Trump’s National Security Advisor HR McMaster made global headlines when he accepted that Russia had interfered in the 2016 US elections. Yalda has reported extensively on the rise and fall of the so called Islamic State in Iraq. She has travelled to the world’s youngest nation South Sudan which has been embroiled in a brutal civil war. She reported that more than 4 million people were on the brink of famine in the devastated country. She has also highlighted the plight of people in the secretive state of Eritrea, covered US elections in 2008, 2012 and 2020, reported from Turkey following the failed coup attempt, covered the aftermath of the earthquake in Nepal, kidnappings by drug cartel’s in Mexico and jihadism in Sweden. She has investigated and reported on people-trafficking and torture of Ethiopian migrants in Yemen and following the Bangladesh garment factory collapse uncovered workers still being put at risk in unsafe premises.

Yalda also conducts high profile interviews with global leaders and public figures including Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani, Hollywood actor and director Angelina Jolie, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan De Mistura and Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to name a few. Yalda often moderates and chairs high profile events including the Nobel Peace Prize Summit, World Economic Forum, Halifax International Security Forum and the Raisina Dialogue in Delhi.

Before joining BBC World News, Yalda was the presenter of SBS Dateline in Australia.

In 2018, Yalda launched the “Yalda Hakim Foundation for Young Women” in partnership with the American University of Afghanistan. The Foundation aims to support the professional advancement of exceptionally talented in Afghanistan.

Yalda was born in Afghanistan and fled with her family as a result of the Soviet invasion, emigrating to Australia.