The Afghanistan Project Podcast

Welcome to The Afghanistan Project Podcast. For this special pre-election episode, I'm bringing back return guest Lt. Col. (R) Will Selber for an awesome update about the increased efforts to whitewash the Taliban regime in the leadup to U.S. presidential elections. We discuss a New York Times piece that gallingly talks of the great hope that terrorist Sirajuddin Haqqani allegedly presents to the...

Welcome to Episode 70 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 Brent Huffman, a documentary filmmaker and professor at Northwestern University, where he is director of documentary journalism. Brent is the director, producer, cinematographer and editor of the 2014 documentary “...

Welcome to Episode 69 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 Gaisu Yari, a human rights activist, writer, and speaker who has fought for freedom in Afghanistan and vocally opposed the Taliban's repressive rule there.   In today’s episode, Gaisu talks about her escape from Af...

Welcome to Episode 68 of The Afghanistan Project, where we cover all topics related to two decades of war in Afghanistan, and the fallout of our Afghanistan withdrawal. For today’s topic of military transition, I have three special guests: Jenn Noonkester, a retired Air Force senior NCO; Michael DeSerio, a 15-year Army senior NCO, and Rob Dufresne, a retired Army Special Forces senior NCO. Jenn, M...

Welcome to Episode 67 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast with guest Fazle Chowdhury, distinguished writer and global affairs analyst known for his in-depth exploration of Ukrainian, Iranian, and post-communist affairs.⁠ Fazle talks about the origin of conflict in Southeast Asia, and how Peshawar, Pakistan changed during the conflict in neighboring Afghanistan. Fazle also discusses the importance o...

Welcome to Episode 66 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast featuring a retired Air Force senior NCO Jenn Noonkester, who has been involved in efforts to support Afghans seeking to escape their homeland. Jenn spoke about her military service prior to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the upheaval that occurred financially, physically, and mentally when Jenn became involved in evacuation effor...

Welcome to Episode 65 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast featuring Afghan journalist in exile, Bilal Sarwary. Bilal and I talk about many of the more nuanced aspects of Taliban rule that are not getting covered, either because journalists in the West lack a comprehensive source network inside Afghanistan, or because the Taliban have effectively quashed freedom of the press inside Afghanistan. We c...

Welcome to Episode 64 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast with special guests Hillar Moore and Joe Maida. Hillar Moore is the District Attorney for East Baton Rouge and has developed a reputation for fighting hard for victims, including those impacted by domestic abuse, fraternity hazing, and the rising opioid epidemic. As a member of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, Hillar has been workin...

Welcome to Episode 63 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast. Our guest this week is Marine Corps veteran Gabby Southern Daiss, who was taking part in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit as an adjutant for Combat Logistics Battalion 24 when she was diverted to Hamid Karzai International Airport to assist with the withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. Gabby is now a member of the board at Operatio...

Welcome to a short update from The Afghanistan Project Podcast, where Beth talks about the impending return of normal episodes and highlights her new Substack account, where she will be sharing stories from Afghanistan that need telling.   Find the Substack account here and please sign up for updates: https://bwbailey85.substack.com/   About the host: Beth Bailey worked in support of Afghanistan o...

Welcome to Episode 62 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast. Our guest this week is Army veteran John Moses, a veteran fellow at the Hoover Institution and co-founder of the Massachusetts Afghan Alliance, an organization supporting Afghans building new lives in Massachusetts. This week, John takes us through his participation in evacuation support during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August...

Welcome to Episode 61 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast. I’m joined today by three women’s rights advocates to discuss the UN’s third round of talks about Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar. Mariam Solaimankhil is a former member of the Parliament of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Gaisu Yari is a human rights activist, writer, and speaker who has fought for freedom in Afghanistan...

Welcome to Episode 60 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast. Our guest this week is Army veteran John Moses, a veteran fellow at the Hoover Institution and co-founder of the Massachusetts Afghan Alliance, an organization supporting Afghans building new lives in Massachusetts. John and Beth talk at length about the trauma for Afghans who were separated from their families during the withdrawal and are...

Welcome to Episode 59 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast. Our guest this week is Leslie Merriman, whose work volunteering to aid Afghan special immigrant visa recipients through No One Left Behind became a broader mission of feeding SIV applicants left behind in the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal in August 2021. Leslie’s work has now expanded to include coordinating medical care for communities,...

Welcome to Episode 58 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast, featuring the incredible return guests Bill Roggio, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and an unmatched expert on the Taliban, and Will Selber, retired Air Force Lt. Col., prolific writer, and host of the "Shoulder to Shoulder" and "Stories From My Brothers" podcasts. Today’s episode looks at the...

Welcome to Episode 57 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast. Our guests today are Rob Dufresne, Tony Barnes, and Jason Howk, members of “Over Never Out.” Together, the group created “Hold On, Reach Out,” a moving song about the important role veterans play for one another in the fight for mental health growth and countering spiking suicide rates in the veteran community. eRob, Tony, and Jason talked...

Welcome to Episode 56 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast. Our special guest today is an Afghan woman still living under Taliban rule in hiding in Afghanistan. We will be calling her “Amina” to protect her identity. Amina spoke about her life as a legal professional before the Taliban came to power, and the fear that accompanied their takeover as the individuals that prosecutors put in prison were...

Welcome to Episode 55 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast. We're bringing back a return guest, retired Lt. Col. Will Selber, for an awesome update about how he was able to get Ahmadullah to safety, and the superhuman levels of trust and faith Afghan allies have had to hold in their American contacts in order to secure safety in the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Will also ta...

Welcome to Episode 54 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast, featuring John Ondrasik, the platinum-selling, Grammy nominated recording artist also known as Five For Fighting. John discusses the anger he felt during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan that led him to write “Blood On My Hands” and begin his efforts to help Afghans left behind during the initial withdrawal escape to freedom after the T...

Welcome to Episode 53 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast, featuring Beau Lendman, a former Senior Vice President at Anham whose support to the company’s 5,000 Afghan special immigrant visa applicants led him to create AfghanHire, a remote hiring platform that links skilled Afghans with lucrative jobs. Beau and I discussed the effort of supporting so many SIV applicants in the days after the U.S. w...

Welcome to Episode 52 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast, featuring Amy Sins, a master of all trades and dynamic disaster relief professional. Amy is a chef and owner of Langlois, a traveling culinary showcase in her hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana. Amy is also the founder and executive director of Fill the Needs, a nonprofit organization through which she and her team provide immediate assista...

Welcome to Episode 51 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast. Today’s guest, Mike No Go Zones, is a YouTuber and independent journalist who takes his viewers to the places around the country and world that we’re often urged to avoid. In March 2021, Mike traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan, capturing some of the last moments of relative freedom the inhabitants of the city experienced before the country came...

Welcome to Episode 50 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast. Today’s guest, James Powers, is an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran and advocate for veterans causes, and another American swept into the morass of post-withdrawal Afghanistan. Today, James and Beth talk about how he got pulled into the volunteer effort to assist vulnerable Afghans in the days before and during the August 2021 withdrawal. He...

Welcome to Episode 49 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast. Today’s guest, Sean Carberry, is a journalist and author whose detailed first-hand reporting on Afghanistan has long enabled him to question the overarching narrative of the West’s ability to provide lasting success in Afghanistan through the programs and efforts it established during nearly two decades of presence there. Sean discusses som...

Welcome to Episode 48 of The Afghanistan Project Podcast, where hosts Beth Bailey and Mikael Cook highlight the struggles of Afghans living under Taliban rule, and the efforts of individuals from a variety of backgrounds and political affiliations who have stepped up to provide support to the people of Afghanistan in the chaos that followed the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Today’s guest, Mich...