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A Wish for Afghanistan — News
A Wish for Afghanistan

The speed of the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan in August 2021 took the world by surprise. Now there is uncertainty and fear among many Afghans – what will Taliban rule look like? What will become of their country?

The Taliban took control of Kabul just weeks before the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the event that led to the US invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 and the Taliban’s fall. It was hoped this would be a new beginning, bringing peace to a country that had known nothing but war since the Soviets invaded 20 years earlier. After 2001, there was a new constitution and elections; women returned to parliament, girls returned to school and civil society flourished. But there was also a resurgence in violence. And now, with the last American soldier gone and the Taliban back in power, many Afghans are fearful for the future.

The BBC’s Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet has followed every twist and turn of the Afghan story. In this landmark series of interviews for the BBC World Service, she hears from Afghans how the last 20 years have shaped them: their dreams for a new future and their fears that the cycle of violence will never stop.

Afghans have a word which seems to capture this moment: kashke. It’s a word that conveys sadness, regret and hope, roughly translating as “if only”, which is why we’ve called this series A Wish for Afghanistan.

Copyright: © (C) BBC 2021

Latest Episodes:

10. Kashke Nov 03, 2021

If only - Lyse Doucet talks to poet, former ambassador and former Mujahideen fighter, Massoud Khalili. Now 74, he’s lived through many of the pivotal moments of 43 years of war in Afghanistan. He and Lyse reflect on the missed opportunities and the mistakes that haunt Afghanistan's recent history. And in the last of our ten part series, Lyse asks Afghans what they want for their country: their main wish, peace.

Series Producers: Louise Hidalgo, Tim Mansel, Ed Butler, Neal Razzell Series Editor: Penny Murphy Commissioning Editor: Steve Titherington Series music composed by Arson Fahim Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele & Iona Hammond Studio Managers: James Beard & Tom Brignell

9. The power couple Oct 27, 2021

An eyewitness account from the presidential palace as the Taliban encircle Kabul.

He was the president’s chief of staff, she was the ambassador in Washington. Both were appointed by President Ghani: Matin Bek, the son of a warlord, and Adela Raz, the daughter of an intellectual. They were Afghanistan’s ultimate power couple. Matin was in the presidential palace the day the capital fell to the Taliban. He describes the moment he realised, uncomprehending, that the president had fled. The palace, he says, was “the safest place in Afghanistan” that day. Adela, in Washington, had just woken up when she realised that something was terribly wrong. “Get out now,” she told her husband. Matin’s assessment looking back on the past few years: “The government failed and I was part of it.”

8. The musicians Oct 20, 2021

Keeping music alive under the Taliban - 21-year-old pianist, composer and conductor Arson Fahim and cellist Meena have both had to leave Afghanistan to continue studying and performing the music they love. Arson created the music for this series. The last time the Taliban were in power, in the 90s, music was banned; today Afghan musicians live in fear. But Arson and Meena, who have studied and composed together, tell Lyse Doucet they are a new generation - playing music is their way of protesting and they will not be silenced

7. The doctor Oct 13, 2021

Living with the Taliban - the female doctor who celebrated the Taliban takeover in Kabul. Gynaecologist, ex MP, former refugee, Dr Roshanak Wardak welcomes the end of years of war which she says the Taliban's return to power has brought. War is the worst thing, she tells Lyse Doucet. But there is one important issue where she says the Taliban can’t be trusted – their assurances over the education of girls. She warns that uneducated women have uneducated children and Afghanistan will have no future without education for everyone.

6. The journalist Oct 06, 2021

Holding the Taliban to account - Afghanistan’s top TV journalist was offered an interview with Taliban leaders within hours of them taking Kabul. But the editor of Afghanistan’s most popular private TV network, TOLO News, was already out of the country. Aged 33, Lotfullah Najfizada now hopes to return to carry on his work as the most successful interviewer and journalist of his generation.

A vibrant media is one of the great successes of the 20 years since the Taliban were last in power. But Lotfullah Najafizada tells Lyse Doucet the challenge now will be to maintain media freedoms and independence under Afghanistan’s new government.

5. The advocate Sep 29, 2021

Forced to flee the Taliban - human rights advocate, former government advisor, feminist, Shaharzad Akbar, who knows the transformative power of education, now a refugee again. Shaharzad Akbar was the first Afghan woman to do post graduate studies at Oxford University in Britain, a student of Smith College in the US, a schoolgirl whose studies were stopped the last time the Taliban were in power, forcing her family to leave Afghanistan when she was a teeanger. Now she's had to leave again, abandoning the life she'd built in Kabul. But Shaharzad Akbar tells Lyse Doucet she won’t give up pushing for what she believes in.

4. The negotiator Sep 22, 2021

The woman face to face with the Taliban - peacemaker, women’s rights advocate and negotiator, Fatima Gailani is the nearest Afghanistan has to aristocracy. Now in her late 60s, she was the female face of Afghan resistance to the Soviet occupation of the 1980s, the Mujahideen. She returned to Afghanistan after 24 years in exile following the US-led invasion of 2001. And in 2020 she became one of four female peace negotiators to sit down with the Taliban. She tells Lyse Doucet, talking is the only way and she and all Afghans deserve peace.

3. The president Sep 15, 2021

Networker, survivor - Afghanistan's former leader Hamid Karzai, famous for his traditional cloak and sheepskin hat, is back in the news. While others fled Kabul in mid-August when the Taliban swept in, Karzai stayed. He sat with them to help negotiate the transfer of power. In power for 13 of the past 20 years, the former president tells Lyse Doucet he's proud of what Afghanistan achieved and says neither he nor the US were able to stem the resurgence of the Taliban.

Series music composed by Arson Fahim

2. The Talib Sep 08, 2021

Founding member, ambassador, prisoner – in the Taliban’s inner circle at the very start. Abdul Salam Zaeef rose to prominence in the Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan until Western forces overthrew it following 9/11. Handed over to the Americans, Mullah Zaeef spent three years as a prisoner in the US detention centre, Guantanamo Bay. He no longer holds an official post in the Taliban, but he despises the democracy that has been built in Afghanistan over the last 20 years. He tells Lyse Doucet that Afghanistan needs a proper Islamic government.

Series music composed by Arson Fahim

1. The envoy Sep 01, 2021

Talking to the Taliban – the US diplomat who negotiated the American pull-out. Zalmay Khalilzad has been the Afghanistan point man for three American presidents. Born in Afghanistan, for the last 20 years he’s played a pivotal role in US policy toward the country of his birth. He tells Lyse Doucet that it is now time for Afghans to shape their own future.

Prelude Aug 27, 2021

The fate of a nation has changed. The BBC’s chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, has followed every twist and turn of the Afghanistan story. She explores how the last 20 years have shaped Afghans, their dreams for a new future, and their fears that the cycle of violence will never stop.

Available from 1 September 2021.

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