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when you never meet his father was assassinated
1:00
and twenty eleven she thought about leaving
1:02
afghanistan for good your
1:05
, her story from our episode but
1:07
the narco kings of kandahar kandahar
1:09
was born in kandahar their family escaped
1:11
the soviets when she was just a just she
1:14
returned as an adult to put her american
1:16
education to use and her father followed
1:18
close behind he became mayor of kandahar
1:20
city his assassination
1:23
devastated rodina specially
1:25
because she believes she was because she
1:27
of western backed warlords not
1:29
the taliban
1:30
i we had the courage to at least
1:33
own it right a lot
1:35
of speculation still have who might be behind
1:38
it but no investigation when
1:40
he took place
1:42
after that here to go
1:44
back to the us to escape
1:46
the war that had taken her father from
1:48
her
1:54
what it when i and my family experience that
1:56
one i wouldn't wish upon anybody
1:59
you couldn't shake the feeling that she had more
2:01
to do in afghanistan that
2:03
her father wouldn't want to quit
2:05
on their homeland
2:07
and company me told me that
2:09
know he would want me to combat
2:11
kinda her had changed in the years that
2:13
ringing had been away the canadians
2:16
left and twenty eleven the obama
2:18
administration had sent in a surge of american
2:21
troops in an attempt to pacify
2:23
the countryside this is
2:25
regina was coming back in late twenty fourteen
2:28
the americans are pulling their ground troops the
2:30
plants will the hand of responsibility
2:32
for security to the afghan national
2:35
army which would be supported by
2:37
american air power many
2:39
afghans special in kabul
2:42
decried the police not ringing
2:45
and i remember having some
2:48
not be very internationally acceptable
2:51
interviews at that time where i said i'm
2:53
not opposing
2:56
to the drawdown have to members
2:59
some of my
3:00
then there network in kabul reached
3:02
out to meet regularly women think hurry
3:05
so irresponsible for saying
3:07
that you supported
3:08
let me through said a
3:10
my response to them with chew that
3:12
if i knew that the presence of the international
3:15
troops were going to help my people
3:17
in my country in my situation of
3:19
course i would support it
3:21
what i saw what i
3:23
experienced
3:25
personally to the point where
3:27
my own father
3:29
i ended i'm just
3:31
war
3:36
the end
3:38
my twenty sixteen regina decided
3:40
it was time to leave kandahar
3:43
my daughter to seven
3:45
i was in , part
3:47
of my life where i said the only
3:49
girl that i have and it happens
3:51
to be a girl thank god how
3:53
can i
3:54
petrified or or play with her future
3:57
in particularly in education
3:59
they keep and her in kinda hard
4:02
the she decided to move com up
4:04
until then kabul city had remained
4:07
an island of stability in an increasingly
4:09
violent country it wasn't
4:11
long before a friend of hers came up with an idea
4:14
that would lead to regina making history i
4:17
not open to school together
4:19
my response
4:20
the him immediately with but i don't know anything
4:22
about education he said i need a manager or
4:24
not education experts
4:27
would be international school the tried to
4:29
bridge a western curriculums with islamic
4:31
principles and afghan values
4:33
and
4:35
the sake of that of my daughter i had
4:37
no choice but to accept because having
4:39
moved to cabo i wasn't
4:41
interested in working with these fancy big
4:44
organizations like the un or other international
4:46
organizations are present
4:48
the school success for daughter
4:50
was the first student within two years
4:53
almost a hundred and twenty children were
4:55
and roll most of them were
4:57
from cobbled elite families when
5:00
kobe hit reggina school
5:02
was one of the few that was able to start up online
5:04
education then
5:06
in april twenty twenty he received
5:09
a very unexpected invitation
5:12
i received a call from president's
5:15
out as saying
5:16
nobody wants to seek crew with you
5:18
and your them the principle of me done interest
5:20
of guy said yes i said what about a the go
5:22
about the schools does
5:24
the provided okay
5:26
i shrugged ghani afghanistan's president
5:29
want to talk to her then he wanted
5:31
more than just for advice
5:33
the accepted the invitation spoke to him
5:36
and at the end of the phone
5:39
interview initially he proposed
5:41
that initially joined his cabinet
5:43
the president of afghanistan's wanted
5:45
run gina to be his minister of education
5:48
to be the first woman to ever hold the
5:50
post the to do so should
5:52
be joining a governments full of the kinds
5:54
of drug traffickers and warlords the
5:57
she despised the she blamed
5:59
for
5:59
filling her own father
6:01
i was surprised when i told my mother
6:03
for advice she was in the state that
6:05
the time she said rangy now
6:08
i know that this is hard because we've given
6:10
one sacrifice as a family
6:13
but he said
6:15
but i also understand that
6:18
if your father had not joined in made
6:20
the changes that he dead you
6:23
don't join and hopefully bring
6:25
changes things that
6:27
don't work then we
6:29
have no didn't play
6:31
the regina said yeah in some
6:34
ways just by taking that job could
6:36
be argued that regina was embodying
6:38
the aspirations of the west claimed
6:41
to have for afghanistan
6:43
the woman pass with bringing education's
6:45
to all of afghanistan's children
6:48
especially girls something that would
6:50
have been unthinkable before the war the
6:53
month that were to com would ever gonna
6:55
ask a question that afghans and
6:57
the rest of the world have been wrestling
6:59
with ever since
7:01
all this for
7:04
so many thousands of people
7:06
had been killed during the war they
7:08
die in vain
7:10
could you be a lasting legacy
7:12
they come out of all this violence
7:26
afghanistan today is a forgotten
7:29
country disappeared
7:31
from the headlines just weeks after
7:33
the taliban takeover but
7:35
the countries who spilled so much blood
7:37
and treasure there for twenty years still
7:40
haven't asked themselves asked themselves questions
7:43
what did we achieve was
7:45
it all worth it who would
7:47
not uncertain the human
7:49
catastrophe unfolding afghanistan
7:52
today a country that has lost
7:54
so many lives to war is
7:56
now at risk of losing more
7:59
to starvation
8:09
i marshy man and from canada
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one of the strangest aspects about the war
10:39
in afghanistan the to stated
10:41
purpose of the war kept changing
10:43
motion a mean an afghan
10:46
writer and commentator who now lives in canada
10:48
so that afghans are still perplexed
10:50
by it you went to
10:53
our body sun still we don't
10:55
know why you went there what was
10:57
your purpose right if you wanted
10:59
to defeat i'll say the entirely while you did
11:01
that in two thousand and two so
11:03
from two thousand two onwards what was the purpose
11:06
of your occupation or have fewer invasion
11:08
in of on his son stephen say
11:11
admin is a political scientist who
11:13
has written two books about canada's war
11:15
in afghanistan he says that
11:17
there was surprisingly little self reflection
11:20
a better warrants even at the time
11:22
we're starting to ask tough questions and twenty twenty two
11:25
now because the mission ended process
11:27
and fourteen and it ended in failure to than
11:29
twenty one and so now the worst they will
11:31
load wrong with gas and while wish i'm asking
11:34
that question when we were there
11:36
oh publishing what we're trying to accomplish
11:39
it's clear that immediately after two thousand
11:41
one the goal was to deny al qaeda
11:43
base of operation
11:45
soon that shifted towards supporting
11:47
the newly constructed afghan government
11:50
when kinda took over responsibility for kandahar
11:53
the purpose was to pacify the region
11:55
counterinsurgency
11:57
publicly it was never frame that
11:59
way
12:00
they retire early to live in conversations one on government
12:02
where the military try to win a war and
12:04
the government for was ninja fun shares an initial
12:06
try to part of it is now global affairs canada and
12:09
aid agencies were all focus mostly
12:11
on me there benchmarks
12:14
the benchmarks are oddly disconnected
12:16
from anything we conventionally think of as war
12:19
building fifty schools fixing
12:21
the dollar dance in order to aid
12:23
irrigation vaccinating children
12:25
for polio those are all
12:27
admirable things to attempt the
12:30
we never did six the dams and even
12:32
many of the schools were on occupied
12:34
shortly after we left the
12:36
many places in the world could use
12:38
more schools better infrastructure more
12:41
vaccination
12:42
the unimaginable that we would invade
12:44
and occupy a country to try to provide
12:47
those things
12:48
what does not okay what those things how to do with winning
12:50
the war in afghanistan are building a self sustaining
12:52
government in afghanistan which have been asking
12:54
generals those tough questions about how
12:57
does your mission your mission
12:59
thing where the monograph what he accomplished
13:01
we working with in can't our
13:03
how corrupt are they in how are we mitigating the
13:06
sex of corruption i think we do then
13:08
a lot of the things that we know now but we weren't really
13:10
been ask those questions
13:12
if they don't know whether the
13:14
vaccine against polio your car somebody to
13:16
support off against each album
13:18
we're finding out to be functional to the whole idea
13:20
was to try to get that people have wanted on
13:22
the bigger challenges we shut up these
13:25
goals be six signature projects
13:28
yeah and it was mostly saw the
13:30
effort back home but blusher any these
13:32
efforts were really doing
13:34
perhaps the best example of canada's
13:36
particular failures in afghanistan
13:39
this or pose a prison
13:41
the prison was in kandahar it
13:43
was were many taliban were held after they
13:45
were captured
13:46
one of canada's big initiatives in
13:48
the province was to train prison
13:51
guards
13:52
numerous canadian corrections officers
13:54
went to afghanistan in that effort
14:01
and we were so focused rightly
14:03
on the human rights violations the were trying to train
14:06
the afternoon wardens prison
14:08
guards to treat to treat better
14:10
but in two thousand and eight the taliban
14:12
struck
14:13
the taliban were smart a blow up our sense
14:16
and then allow people are able escape
14:18
after the prison break canada vowed
14:20
to help rebuild the prison canadian
14:22
officials even went so far as described
14:25
the prison break as a blessing in
14:27
disguise because it would allow them to
14:29
build a better more impervious
14:31
gate we did
14:33
they didn't stop the taliban in
14:36
two thousand eleventh just of canadians were set
14:38
to leave there was another prison
14:40
break the second time they dug a
14:42
tunnel from outside into the prison
14:45
the and a that should be detected in
14:47
d what five hundred people
14:49
have more let's get out over the course the night which meant
14:51
that nobody was walking the beat the determine where
14:53
the folks are going and it seem like
14:55
the folks that we were trained were complicit with in
14:57
the funny thing about us is that the second prison
14:59
break happened shortly after the
15:01
last quarter of force talk about how successful
15:04
are training in the prison guards were going
15:06
which suggests or or contradictions
15:11
all of the money in the training that canada
15:13
put into suppose a prison
15:15
didn't amount to much after years
15:17
of efforts the prison couldn't perform
15:19
it's most basic function
15:21
keeping people inside
15:25
i'm like many the people we spoke to for this series
15:27
stephen seidman does believe that
15:29
canada was able to achieve some
15:31
important objectives
15:33
when we look back at a mission for our was
15:35
the target he was the homeland for taliban
15:38
during our time we created a bubble of
15:40
security for the people reading the bubble yes
15:43
they were the days in there
15:45
other kinds of attacks
15:47
right
15:48
the can improve life expectancy improved
15:50
all that stuff got better while we were there and
15:52
so we might have got confused about house
15:55
or temper presence created a better
15:57
reality for a self sustaining asking
16:00
because as we lasted as a real
16:02
left that bubble popped
16:04
that's pretty my way and those markets
16:06
when away and know that education one way
16:09
we were less say the for very long the
16:11
and that basic reality
16:13
shaped everything else
16:15
there isn't the primary ways we could look
16:17
at our time in kandahar we held
16:19
places like kandahar city and
16:21
gave people a chance to build lives for
16:23
themselves there's a narrative that
16:25
runs counter to the the by trying
16:28
to hold onto these urban areas and population
16:30
centers nato forces would
16:32
bomb and raid rural afghanistan
16:35
many many civilians were killed even
16:38
more lost their homes for their livelihoods
16:41
are there simply humiliate
16:43
that was what led to the growth of
16:45
the told i put that
16:47
alternative scenario to say
16:50
the creation of a bubble around
16:52
the major population areas the idea
16:54
population cedric warfare as you protect the people
16:56
while that has consequences for the places where people are
16:59
and an easy to your seen that those areas
17:02
to the taliban which means that that's not great
17:05
or you're using less precise
17:08
the rules against them because if you're near them you're
17:10
ever our time is identified who's who are
17:13
you making mistakes it's really hard to
17:15
i commission afghanistan because we
17:17
were doing harm and we're doing good at the same time
17:19
was time was of those two things we
17:22
better than having a tell them rather place i
17:24
would suggest the next five years can tell us a little
17:26
bit about whether we we were better occupiers
17:28
and helmet
17:30
motion a mean says that at it's
17:32
heart this was the basic
17:34
problem with the war
17:36
there was always this dichotomy
17:39
or can trust in feeding
17:41
different parts of hamza
17:43
for instance like urban areas they're
17:45
lysander improve
17:47
what for roller air yes
17:49
the was devastated
17:50
though this dichotomy or this
17:53
two different worlds starting to
17:55
emerge and the last twenty
17:57
years
17:59
they didn't
17:59
ways live in rural afghanistan
18:02
got even worse in the years after
18:04
canada last the americans
18:07
increase the number of air raids on
18:09
suspected taliban positions after
18:11
twenty fourteen resulting in
18:13
more and more civilian casualties
18:17
this last year reporters from
18:19
the new york times visited villages
18:21
and kinda hard to try to figure out how
18:23
many civilians had been killed in
18:25
specific drone strikes in
18:28
vandy to more they found that most
18:30
households had lost an average
18:33
of five family members because
18:36
the afghan government was so absent from
18:38
those areas there were no death certificates
18:40
that the reporters could view
18:42
instead they had to confirmed the
18:45
deaths visiting the many
18:47
many graveyards that covered
18:49
the countryside
18:55
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18:57
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indiana who midi was put forward as the
20:02
new minister of education for afghanistan
20:04
and twenty twenty she didn't know that
20:06
her tenure would only last fourteen months
20:09
in my little time at
20:11
the ministry as a woman in
20:13
afghanistan in a time where
20:15
there was so much going
20:18
on every single minute
20:20
and have a single day i would
20:22
have to summarize it and saying
20:25
that
20:25
i gave it my best the best
20:27
that i had the best i could give
20:30
he says that she tried to creep policy with ordinary
20:32
afghan children in mind
20:34
that sounds like the bare minimum
20:36
the neighbor fellow ministers use their positions
20:38
so leads to enrich themselves and their
20:40
families
20:42
i tried to think of minister's
20:44
office connected to the classroom and
20:46
fourth grade and of little village
20:48
in the middle of nowhere if
20:50
it is going to benefit that child
20:53
that child approve it but if
20:55
it is to benefit and m p
20:58
the family members of an mp
21:01
their children have some tribal
21:04
elder leader of the lord
21:06
warlord sitting you know
21:08
enjoying privileges of international
21:11
contracts and berries military
21:14
if it is to help and support
21:16
anything but the children of up on a fan
21:19
i will stand up again
21:22
regina claims that this a gala terrorism
21:24
was one of the reasons she lost a vote of confidence
21:27
the afghan parliament
21:28
i prayed
21:30
the records of prayer of gratitude
21:33
the second that it was announced that i did
21:35
not get the vote of confidence because
21:38
quite honestly
21:39
that corrupt parliament
21:42
the majority crap
21:43
them under the handful of people maybe
21:45
about ten fifteen maximum men
21:47
and women who i do respect than who
21:49
i think we're quite honest and
21:51
there's and of a representation of
21:54
the people by the great
21:56
majority of the parliament the parliament
21:58
women
21:59
corrupt officials hear
22:02
nothing about of understand or a teacher
22:05
whose only purpose
22:08
in the feet was to run and manage their
22:10
own businesses and
22:12
they could be a man government officials
22:15
to find contract that would benefit them
22:18
personally
22:19
i refused to do that to the best
22:21
of my ability that i could it
22:24
costs me that vote but i am so
22:26
proud of myself but i was able to stand
22:28
up against that
22:29
despite the fact that she lost the parliamentary vote
22:32
president ashraf ghani decided to keep
22:34
her in the position as acting minister
22:36
that wouldn't last long regina
22:39
watched and waited and the last american
22:41
troops were withdrawing from afghanistan
22:43
last summer
22:45
even in august as the taliban rapidly
22:47
took control of much of the country she
22:49
continued to come into work that's
22:51
where she was on august fifteenth the
22:53
day the taliban entered kabul
23:00
i would in my office i went diligently
23:03
as i mean i as i did every day
23:05
he was working in a draft of a national
23:07
education policy which would have been the country's
23:10
first during the occupation years
23:13
the other things i completed that it was in
23:15
it's final edit still upon my desk
23:17
reading the final version to sign
23:20
to send to president ashraf
23:22
ghani for a final approval before
23:24
we could publicize to the country and
23:27
by twelve fifteen like chief of staff came
23:30
to my office and
23:31
with worries in his eyes looked at me and
23:34
said madam minister there's not a
23:36
single person left in this ministry
23:38
i think it is not safe for
23:41
you to
23:41
mean here in to me to leave
23:43
i looked outside through
23:45
the windows to see
23:47
that's okay off on the streets
23:49
with
23:50
the german people running left and
23:52
right
23:53
and i had nothing left to argue
23:56
with , because literally there
23:58
was nobody left in the ministry
23:59
the
24:01
why hack whatever i had
24:04
in the office
24:05
my purse my computer
24:07
my daughter pictures
24:10
and
24:11
keep up that was given as a gift
24:13
to me hand painted by one of my
24:15
understood exactly son
24:18
damn i walked out
24:20
knowing that i probably was never going to return
24:23
to that ministry and as we
24:25
drove out of the ministry
24:27
the date for wide open
24:30
the security personnel
24:33
that were given to
24:35
the ministry not a single
24:37
one of them was present and
24:39
now we left with the gates still
24:41
why
24:41
open because there was nobody to suffocate
24:43
actually
24:45
nina hamid afghanistan first
24:47
see more education minister a woman
24:49
who blame that same government for her father's
24:52
murder and will one of the last officials
24:54
to stay at their posts that
24:57
most of the cabinet members should have been in their
24:59
office still like i was
25:01
but i later learned that
25:03
many had fled already and
25:05
and i still didn't believe that it was
25:07
edit everything had fallen
25:09
illinois
25:11
the night when know
25:13
the new made it out that president
25:15
bush upon
25:18
in the plane initially
25:21
i was angry when i heard of the news
25:23
but i think soon after within minutes
25:26
i realize what
25:29
could he have done
25:32
regina vowed to stay in the country even
25:35
to work with the taliban if necessary
25:37
she's one of the very he government officials who met
25:39
with taliban leaders to see if you could keep
25:42
her job
25:43
that you could try to make sure girls could get
25:45
an education under the new regime
25:47
while they assured her that they would eventually
25:49
provide girls have an education once
25:51
they could ensure the system complied with their
25:53
harsh version of sharia they told
25:56
her to no longer be in charge of the ministry
25:59
they asked the to speak for the regime
26:01
to reassure the west but they weren't the bogeyman
26:04
that they'd been made out to be
26:06
that was the day indeed i decided
26:08
to flee the family eventually
26:11
made to arizona where she lives today
26:14
motion a mean for you heard from the top
26:16
of the show was watching the taliban take
26:18
over from canada
26:20
it happened so rapidly and so
26:22
quickly
26:23
our actually very concerned
26:25
for my family
26:26
my wife and kids and parents
26:28
and brothers and sisters
26:30
there were enough honey sad i
26:32
didn't know whether seat fighting
26:35
more urban warfare could start
26:38
the biggest fear was that cobble
26:40
would descend into urban warfare the
26:42
kind that had destroyed much of the city in the nineteen
26:45
nineties
26:46
luckily that didn't happen instead
26:49
of garrison began to face a very different kind
26:51
of crisis the economy collapsed
26:53
people are starving
26:56
because taliban are considered a terrorist
26:58
organization
27:00
afghanistan is now under crippling economic
27:02
sanctions and worse the
27:04
biden administration froze billions of
27:06
dollars i belong to the afghan central bank
27:09
completely cutting the country off from the global
27:11
financial system
27:13
current situation is the as
27:15
devastating it's the
27:18
economic warfare basically
27:21
waged by the international community
27:23
against us
27:25
this international aid agencies have left the country
27:28
this is especially devastating since
27:30
the afghan economies had been built by the
27:33
west to be almost entirely dependent
27:35
on foreign aid prices for
27:37
basic foodstuffs has skyrocketed during
27:39
the un estimates ninety five percent
27:42
of afghans don't have enough to eat
27:45
half are facing a cute food
27:47
shortages
27:48
the million children are facing malnutrition
27:52
and ordinary of lines are
27:54
being punished they don't
27:56
know why they're being punished
27:58
they have nothing to do
27:59
the taliban
28:01
i remember one friend he
28:03
reached out to me that if their
28:05
ways if they can send one
28:07
thousand two hundred you his daughters
28:09
to apply the sun
28:11
perjury ah i can
28:13
you're all the time
28:15
the guys today exhausted zero one
28:17
month or which are limit
28:20
they have to wait for another month
28:22
the child is basically
28:25
suffering
28:26
in the doctors told him that he has
28:28
to under go through
28:31
so imagine this is deliver
28:33
love devastation that of answer
28:35
undergoing
28:37
according to the wall street journal some
28:39
afghans have begun to sell their
28:41
own organs in order to get
28:43
money to see their children
28:46
the as hargett sergeant canada as minister
28:48
of international development if the canadian
28:50
government would be willing to drop sanctions
28:53
against afghanistan's in light
28:55
of the humanitarian catastrophe let's
28:58
not forget with the taliban they're still a
29:00
d r recognize terrorist organisation
29:02
writes ah i'm also the fact
29:04
that will detail than was in power is
29:06
dawning of women in the stadiums
29:09
are arbitrary chili's that
29:11
we're going on in , are
29:13
some the things that were not kind of forget
29:16
and we need to make sure that we have have
29:18
whole people to account but at the same time
29:21
our role as not to up when i heard you
29:23
with the taliban are we want to help the afghan people
29:25
and that's exactly what we die canada
29:28
has pledged some aid money to afghans
29:31
the problem is
29:32
it it's still illegal for any canadian
29:34
energy to deal with the taliban
29:37
considering that they are the government
29:39
of afghanistan that makes it nearly
29:41
impossible for independent aid agencies
29:44
to help afghans and anyway
29:46
while i have some sympathy for with such and
29:48
was saying the taliban has committed
29:50
numerous atrocities i
29:52
find it hard to see how the economic
29:55
isolation the west is forcing upon
29:57
afghanistan doesn't amount
29:59
to
29:59
form of collective punishment
30:02
the last week a devastating earthquake
30:05
hit eastern afghanistan
30:07
more than a thousand people were killed
30:10
the motion again
30:11
this was the most devastating
30:13
natural disaster in the country's
30:16
recent history you know destroyed
30:18
entire villages people from
30:20
outside from overseas they could
30:23
not send remittances money
30:25
to the country due to the sanctions and
30:28
i have tried many of my friends
30:30
side we couldn't send money
30:33
and they were rejected and
30:35
, sure a lot of people millions of people
30:37
wanted to help their fellow
30:39
countrymen but they could
30:41
not
30:42
the taliban to a failing
30:44
afghans despite promises
30:46
they made during peace negotiations with the
30:48
united states teenage girls
30:51
are still not allowed to go to school the
30:53
many parts of the country's women are only
30:55
allowed outdoors if accompanied by a male
30:58
guardian moderate factions
31:00
within the taliban's have been losing out
31:02
to the hardliners
31:04
in motion believe that the sanctions
31:06
are only helping the most extreme talibs
31:09
and a given that is
31:11
the international community miscalculated
31:14
the situation once again
31:16
they , that if they can pressurized
31:19
the taliban's didn't they were forced
31:21
him to provide some sort of concessions
31:24
in that bag fired that basically
31:26
the and for the argument up the hardliners
31:29
the hardliners told the modern ones
31:32
that no matter what you do
31:34
international community was
31:36
blacklist you with sense and you with
31:39
and issue so it has
31:41
to do our job
31:43
despite all of us motion is still hopeful
31:46
the moon after mistakes
31:48
as far far last fifteen years
31:50
and i will remain optimistic and
31:52
our our will maintain this optimism
31:54
about upon his son and given
31:56
that the war has ended
31:58
the third grade seen
32:00
and that in enough itself
32:03
that forced us to be optimistic
32:05
of valley side and international community
32:07
and superpowers they have tried
32:10
war aggression in violent for
32:12
the last forty three years
32:14
they did not achieve anything
32:16
basically we're back to square one
32:19
eyebrows need your support don't
32:22
, them in this uncertainty
32:25
uncertainty trying so
32:27
many violent things violent
32:30
, united states alone dropped
32:31
the five thousand bombs and
32:33
afghanistan indeed
32:35
the people torture people a
32:38
lotta good work also done
32:40
but it has been diverse now
32:42
and at least the amount of
32:44
money that you spend the taxpayer money
32:46
in a funny side on war whatever
32:49
is left in whatever you have committed
32:51
actually spend that on development at
32:54
least spend that on the welfare
32:56
and will be and a half months so
32:58
you leave a good legacy you
33:01
leave an impression to the people
33:03
have valley son that the west
33:05
not at war with afghanistan
33:08
the after twenty years
33:10
of occupation and forty years
33:12
of war what is afghanistan left
33:14
with the economy that's in
33:16
shambles have build infrastructure
33:19
another refugee crisis
33:21
the taliban once again in charge
33:24
there's one very hard
33:26
lesson that i think we need to learn
33:28
from this war every
33:30
time more a western soldiers
33:33
were sent into an area things
33:35
got worse the canadian
33:38
surge into kandahar resulted
33:40
in more of me so did
33:42
the american serves that follows even
33:45
when we thought we were helping
33:47
the word
33:48
violence only be get more violence
33:52
many groups share the blame for
33:54
the fate of afghanistan
33:56
the americans and nato al qaeda
33:58
and the taliban
33:59
pakistan's intelligence service the
34:02
old warlords and the new ones
34:04
hard to think of another country that
34:06
have been meddled with more by outside
34:09
forces in recent history that
34:11
afghanistan
34:12
now at the end of it
34:14
millions of afghans are dead millions
34:18
have fled and millions more would
34:20
flee if the rest of the world cared
34:22
enough about them to take the man
34:25
my billions upon billions
34:27
of dollars that were poured into it the
34:29
poorest country on the plane
34:31
the majority of the people are at
34:34
risk of starvation they're condom
34:36
use been destroyed despite
34:38
that the plight of afghans
34:40
barely even makes headlines anymore
34:43
they've been made invisible
34:45
dina her midi still mourning
34:47
for her country
34:48
the country she is now had to flee from
34:50
twice
34:54
wouldn't have provided of individuals
34:57
like father and i wish my and it was
34:59
the only one in
35:01
forty years and a fun fact the
35:03
been eating sacrifice of life
35:06
some lights unfortunately don't matter the
35:09
night of of aniston the
35:11
only reality to me now instead
35:14
never really made and for twenty
35:17
years
35:18
then i committed my adult working
35:20
life to with in
35:22
an understanding believing a thing
35:23
the can be different for the future of
35:26
the up on citizens amendment the women
35:28
and children
35:30
i was stupid enough to believe
35:33
that wouldn't work leaders make promises
35:35
that
35:35
the
35:36
in actuality
35:37
we know that they don't if
35:40
you truly believe in these principle
35:42
in value set your for yourself
35:44
been your society the your country
35:47
then why do you go
35:49
with the
35:51
very people who work
35:53
against such principle
35:56
the twenty years us
36:00
the community military
36:03
the mode it is supported murderers
36:07
killers people
36:09
who only played and the service to
36:11
democracy and bringing down
36:14
the whole nation a forty million
36:16
though only began to dream
36:18
to hope for a better future can
36:21
you sleep at night and and and
36:23
tell yourself that you truly
36:26
a global leader because
36:28
my opinion
36:30
ignorant a definite
36:31
probably because a global
36:34
leader is someone who if
36:36
he or she believes in the principles
36:38
for themselves they would wish
36:40
it upon others as well if
36:42
i would any of those leaders in those positions
36:45
would make those decisions
36:47
i would honestly be extremely ashamed
36:49
of my of
36:51
you know been watching the warned ukraine
36:53
unfold
36:54
and she find it hard to not think of the parallels
36:57
between what's happening now and the fate
36:59
that befell her country
37:01
horrible for president
37:03
then he in ukraine and the
37:05
people who are suffering at the hands
37:07
the ugly and unjust war
37:09
a war that we as afghans experience
37:12
in nineteen seventy eight seventy nine when
37:14
russia invaded afghanistan
37:16
however i do cringe of the inside
37:19
when i look at the reality in the hypocrisy
37:21
of the world bet about forty years
37:23
ago
37:24
a cornerstone as a nation enough
37:27
on the sun as the people were often does
37:29
the people were also applauded
37:31
reported be were the
37:33
warriors you know they were
37:36
this freedom fighters
37:38
the mujahideen freedom fighters
37:40
that were financially
37:43
and militarily supported
37:46
by a fee a
37:48
and i find pakistan
37:50
mm and other allies in the world
37:54
the same elements
37:55
we don't
37:56
in becoming
37:58
the very word lord somewhere
38:00
the engaged in the destruction of upon fun
38:02
in the past twenty years
38:04
hope that the ukrainian
38:07
people
38:08
the ukrainian nation
38:10
don't believe what
38:11
it
38:13
it's hard not to escape the ceiling the
38:15
history is repeating itself
38:17
not just because the taliban or governing again
38:20
just like in the years before nine eleven there's
38:23
an insurgency in the north against the taliban
38:26
this time led by och med massoud
38:28
the son of och med shah massoud the
38:30
legendary guerrilla fighter
38:32
some of american politicians are
38:34
already asking the us to do
38:36
what they did before
38:38
send money and guns into afghanistan
38:41
to fight the taliban
38:43
the international community
38:46
consider
38:48
according either financially
38:52
or through ammunition again
38:55
you continue
38:57
another
38:58
the of the civil war
39:01
in afghanistan a really want to
39:03
challenge really seriously decide
39:05
what you guys want to do with these people
39:07
you know when i get angry about
39:11
they're their love for killing
39:14
and destruction
39:16
i'm sorry but i have to say this
39:19
war is
39:22
the game of men
39:24
the men who loves to show their power
39:27
to
39:28
ammunition on their back ammunition
39:31
in their hands
39:33
and celebrating power
39:37
the more appealing
39:38
and of course we paid the price
39:41
anything children poor
39:43
people left and right you
39:45
never see
39:47
a war lords or a drug lords or
39:49
a war monsters own son
39:51
or own brother or own
39:54
selves
39:55
the killed in the front line
39:57
the always the children of other
39:59
the people who give
40:01
like but innocent children fighting
40:03
own money nine other
40:32
canada and the west will
40:34
obligation to help afghans in
40:36
any way that they can splintered
40:39
economic aid easing of sanctions
40:41
for fast tracking refugees afghans
40:43
can't afford to wait any longer
40:46
kinda , want to discuss the legacy
40:48
of our war in afghanistan but
40:51
afghans are living with that legacy
40:54
every day
40:56
my country my country
40:58
is people
40:59
starving not
41:01
, they are lazy not
41:04
because they don't wish to better
41:06
their lives but they are now
41:09
considered by the un as
41:11
the un on the brink of starvation
41:13
because international
41:15
actors made horrible
41:18
decisions and , on
41:20
people have to pay a price for it it
41:23
war in afghanistan might be over
41:25
with the war against afghans continues
41:28
to this day
42:17
that's your episode of comments if you
42:19
liked this episode please support us
42:22
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42:32
our series in the war in war
42:35
thank you so much you list this
42:37
episode relied on work done by graeme smith
42:40
steve said men motion a mean
42:42
sharif shall wrath of khan
42:44
at the new york times sooner angle
42:46
rasmussen at the wall street journal and
42:49
many many others if
42:51
you want to get in touch with us you can tweet
42:53
us you commons pod we
42:55
can also email me or she had email
42:57
line dot com this episode
43:00
was produced by me in jordan cornish with
43:02
by production by nor azria our
43:05
executive producers cure and outs
43:07
horn and our music is by
43:09
nathan burley if you like what
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