The Afghanistan Project Podcast

Welcome to Episode 85 of The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. Today, my guest is U.S. Army veteran James McCants. James entered the U.S. Army in 2006 and graduated from the Defense Language Institute after finishing the Tagalog language basic course in 2007. After completing ATI and going on...

Welcome to The Afghanistan Project, where we cover alltopics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. Today, my guest is Julie Pacheco-Toye, the foster mother of“Kara,” a young Afghan teen who came to the U.S. unaccompanied following the withdrawal, and went through a great deal of uncertainty before finding herself in Julie and her husband’s hom...

Welcome to Episode 83 of The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. Today’s guest is Mursal, a sixteen-year-old Afghan who helped to educate girls in her country after being forbidden from attending the 8th grade in 2021. With the help of some amazing Americans, Mursal was able to escape her countr...

Welcome to The Afghanistan Project, where we cover alltopics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. Today’s guest is Layma Murtaza, a board member from Aseel, which provides food and assistance to Afghans in need and also helps Afghan artisans bring their products to the world through the web. Layma has over 10 years of experience working in th...

Welcome to The Afghanistan Project, where we cover alltopics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal.   Today, I’m very honored to bring on Ambassador M. AshrafHaidari is the Founder & President of Displaced International (DI) and a former refugee who is now a U.S. citizen. Overcoming significant challenges, he has built a distinguished caree...

Welcome to The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. Our guests today are Shawn VanDiver and Kate Kovarovic, giving their input on breaking information that the State Department has been asked to put together plans for shutting down Enduring Welcome. We beg for advocacy, in an effort to stop any d...

Welcome to Episode 81 of The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. My guest today is Hamayun Khan, an author, independent researcher, financial professional, and education advocate. He is the founder of SolaTeach, an online initiative educating Afghan girls English and professional skills. His wri...

Welcome to The Afghanistan Project Podcast.   My guest today is Elizabeth Lynn, the director of governmentoperations at Operation Recovery, where she directs the Afghanistan and Grow America Farm Corps initiatives. Elizabeth served in the U.S. Air Force and the Navy Reserves, and has received multiple commendations for her service. After holding a variety of positions with the U.S. Postal Service,...

Welcome to The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. Our guests today are Shawn VanDiver and Kate Kovarovic, giving a needed update on the fallout from new executive orders that impact our Afghan allies as well as our already overstretched volunteers. Shawn VanDiver is founder and president of the...

Welcome to The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. My guest today is Alison Tabor, a Supervising Attorney with Resettlement Action DC (REACT DC) and a Principal Attorney with AGT LAW PLLC. Alison delivers excellent information about how various groups of Afghans in the U.S. are impacted by the l...

Welcome to The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. Our guest today is Omid Eztarabi, a Social Activist and Human Rights Defender who has been participating in humanitarian efforts to improve civil society and women’s rights in Afghanistan since 2018, working for organization like the Internation...

Welcome to The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. Our guests today are Sarah Cady, the CEO of Resettlement Action DC (REACT DC), Ellen Smith, the Executive Director of Keeping Our Promise, Inc. and John Moses, the co-founder of Massachusetts Afghan Alliance.   We discuss the impact new executiv...

Welcome to The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal.   Our guests today are Shawn VanDiver and Kate Kovarovic, giving their input on new executive orders that impact our Afghan allies as well as our already overstretched volunteers.   Shawn VanDiver is founder and president of the #AfghanEvac coal...

Welcome to The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal.   Our guest today is Andy Sullivan, the Chief Advocacy Officer for No One Left Behind, a nonprofit organization that supports the wartime allies whom we promised assistance through the special immigrant visa program.   Andy takes listeners throu...

Welcome to Episode 80 of The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal.   Today’s guests are two members of the Afghanistan Journalists Support Organization (AJSO), a nonprofit organization based in Germany. Freshta Hemmati is an Afghan journalist and women's rights activist. She holds a bachelor&#...

Welcome to Episode 79 of The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. Today’s guests are members of Team Alpha, the CIA’s original eight-man team of analysts, linguists, warriors, and tribal experts who went into Afghanistan to defeat al Qaeda in the days immediately following Sept. 11, 2001. David T...

Welcome to The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. Today, we're talking about recent developments in Afghanistan  involving decrees targeting Afghan women and border skirmishes between the Taliban and Pakistan. Beth also discusses the incredible guests who came on during the last 12 months and s...

Welcome to Episode 78 of The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal.   Today’s guest is Art Conaghan, a public affairs specialist in the UK who was a Parliamentary Chief of Staff for an MP in Northampton, outside of London, at the time of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. This is probably one of seve...

Welcome to Episode 77 of The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. My guest today is an esteemed representative of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, His Excellency Mohammed Ashraf Haidari.  Ashraf served as the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Sri Lanka and Deputy Ambassador to th...

Welcome to Episode 76 of The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. Today’s guest is Geeta Bakshi, a former CIA counterterrorism officer and founder of Famil, a national nonprofit organization which provides support to Afghan allies, particularly members of the Zero Units, elite Afghan forces who w...

Welcome to Episode 75 of The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal.   Today’s guest is Shawn VanDiver, a 12-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, and the founder and president of the #AfghanEvac coalition, an umbrella of multiple volunteers and professionals across the government and private sector who ai...

Welcome to Episode 74 of The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal.   Our guests today are John Moses, Elizabeth Lynn, and Terry Symula, all of whom are intimately involved in cases where Afghan families separated as a result of the noncombatant evacuation operations are struggling to achieve reuni...

Welcome to Episode 73 of The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal.   Our guest today is Andy Sullivan, the Chief Advocacy Officer for No One Left Behind, a nonprofit organization that supports the wartime allies whom we promised assistance through the special immigrant visa program.   Andy takes l...

Welcome to Episode 72 of The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal.   Today’s guest is Jason Howk, a veteran of the U.S. Army who was involved firsthand in key periods of our twenty-year effort to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan.   Our discussion revolves around the reasons that an incomin...

Welcome to Episode 71 of The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. Today’s guest is the journalist and author Lynne O’Donnell, who has been fearlessly covering Afghanistan since shortly after September 11, 2001 and continues to document the atrocities of the de facto government today. Lynne has be...