Afghanistan with Roh Yakobi

On 9 September 2001, two al-Qaeda operatives posing as journalists assassinated Ahmad Shah Massoud, just two days before the 9/11 attacks. But how did they manage to get so close to him?In this excerpt from my exclusive interview with veteran New Yorker journalist Jon Lee Anderson, he discusses his investigation into Massoud’s assassination, the route the killers took through Northern Alliance territory, and the local figures who helped them along the way. Anderson explains why he believes Abdul Rasul Sayyaf was directly involved in the plot to assassinate Massoud, as well as the questions he had about other senior figures in Massoud’s circle. He also reveals that British intelligence later approached him and said they too believed Sayyaf was involved in Massoud’s murder. This is an excerpt from the interview. The full exclusive conversation with Jon Lee Anderson will be released soon.👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTubeProducer | Host: Roh YakobiAssistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/rohyakobiInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theafgpodX: https://x.com/theafgpod

More than two decades after helping overthrow the Taliban and witnessing the birth of Afghanistan’s new government, Don Parnell looks back at what became of the country — and the people — he left behind.In the final part of this exclusive three-part interview, the former CIA Chief of Ground Branch reflects on the aftermath of the 2001 campaign, his relationship with Hamid Karzai, and the extraordinary experiences that followed the fall of Kandahar.Parnell shares some of the more human — and at times surprisingly amusing — stories from those days: the personalities he encountered, the friendships forged under extraordinary circumstances, and the strange, mundane and occasionally absurd problems that existed alongside the deadly serious business of war. His recollections offer a glimpse of Afghanistan rarely captured in official histories: not simply strategy, intelligence and politics, but the people, humour and everyday realities behind them.He also recalls returning to Afghanistan and being honoured by President Hamid Karzai with Afghanistan’s Wazir Akbar Khan Medal, alongside the late former King Mohammad Zahir Shah — an extraordinary moment in a relationship that had begun amid the chaos of war.Parnell reflects on the Afghans he worked alongside and the personal cost of watching a mission that once seemed so full of possibility end with the Taliban’s return to power in 2021. Speaking candidly about the US withdrawal and the fate of people he knew and cared about, his verdict is strikingly simple: “It hurts.”Looking back across the twenty-year intervention, Parnell discusses the constant rotation of commanders, the drift from the original counterterrorism mission into nation-building, and what he believes was a fundamental misunderstanding of Afghanistan itself. In his view, attempts to construct a highly centralised Western-style state failed to account for the country’s local, tribal and regional realities.Yet this concluding episode is as much about people as politics. Parnell remembers the Afghans he fought and worked alongside, the risks they took, the bonds created in war, and the extraordinary contrast between the optimism of 2001 and the collapse two decades later.Funny, candid, poignant and at times painful, this is the concluding chapter of a remarkable first-hand account from a CIA officer who witnessed the Taliban’s first regime fall — and, twenty years later, watched the Taliban return.👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTubeProducer | Host: Roh YakobiAssistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/rohyakobiInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theafgpodX: https://x.com/theafgpod

As Hamid Karzai emerged as Afghanistan’s new interim leader, the Taliban’s first regime was collapsing. But behind the scenes, the final days of Taliban rule in their Pashtun heartland, were shaped as much by negotiations as by military force.In Part 2 of this 3 parts exclusive interview, former CIA Chief of Ground Branch Don Parnell recounts witnessing Hamid Karzai’s acceptance of the interim presidency, the secret negotiations that led to the surrender of Kandahar, and entering the city alongside Karzai as Mullah Omar slipped away. He describes establishing a base at Mullah Omar’s residence, the removal of the Taliban flag, the confusion surrounding Omar’s escape, and the remarkable scenes as Kandahar celebrated the end of Taliban rule with music, kites and a return to public life.Parnell also reflects on Hamid Karzai’s leadership during those pivotal days, the complex tribal politics that shaped the campaign, and offers a candid assessment of why he believes the West ultimately failed in Afghanistan. Rather than attempting to build a highly centralised nation-state, he argues, the coalition underestimated the country’s tribal realities and tried to impose a model of governance that Afghanistan was never structured to sustain.A rare first-hand account from one of the CIA officers who witnessed the collapse of the Taliban’s first regime, the birth of Afghanistan’s new government, and the decisions that would shape the next two decades of war. 👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTubeProducer | Host: Roh YakobiAssistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/rohyakobiInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theafgpodX: https://x.com/theafgpod

On 14 November 2001, a small CIA team and U.S. Special Forces secretly inserted Hamid Karzai into southern Afghanistan. Less than a month later, Karzai would become Afghanistan’s interim leader.In Part 1 of this exclusive interview, Don Parnell, former CIA Chief of Ground Branch, who was by Karzai’s side throughout the mission, tells the inside story of one of the most consequential operations of the war in Afghanistan.Parnell recounts how the CIA assembled the mission in the aftermath of 9/11, the dangerous helicopter insertion into Uruzgan, working with Pashtun tribal elders, and the race to build a southern uprising against the Taliban. He also describes surviving behind Taliban lines with little food or water, the devastating U.S. friendly-fire strike that nearly killed Hamid Karzai, and witnessing the moment Karzai learned he had been chosen to lead Afghanistan’s new post-Taliban government.A rare first-hand account from one of the CIA officers at the centre of the campaign that toppled the Taliban.Coming in Parts 2 and 3: the secret negotiations with the Taliban, the fall of Kandahar, entering Mullah Omar’s residence, the removal of the Taliban flag, Mullah Omar’s escape, and the extraordinary final days of Taliban rule, and its aftermath.👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTubeProducer | Host: Roh YakobiAssistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/rohyakobiInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theafgpodX: https://x.com/theafgpod

In this episode, renowned British photographer Jenny Matthews reflects on nearly four decades of documenting Afghanistan, from the final years of the Soviet occupation to the return of the Taliban.She recalls arriving in Kabul in 1988, photographing Afghan women during a time of war and uncertainty, and witnessing a society far more complex and vibrant than many outsiders imagined. The conversation explores her encounters with figures such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the contrasts between Kabul and the refugee camps of Peshawar, and the experiences that shaped her career.Matthews also reflects on her remarkable journey to Bamiyan in 1998, where she found a landscape of breathtaking beauty and extreme hardship. She describes seeing families living in caves on the sides of the Bamiyan Buddhas, children enduring poverty and isolation, and the shock of coming under Taliban bombardment shortly after arriving.From war widows and women fighters to schoolchildren, midwives and future politicians, Matthews has spent decades documenting the lives of ordinary Afghans navigating extraordinary circumstances. She reflects on the profound changes she witnessed between 1988 and 2011, particularly in the lives and aspirations of Afghan women, and on the resilience that continues to define Afghanistan despite decades of conflict.A moving and deeply human conversation with one of the photographers who captured some of Afghanistan’s most enduring images.👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTubeProducer | Host: Roh YakobiAssistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshCover photo ©: Jenny Matthews/PanosEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/rohyakobiInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theafgpodX: https://x.com/theafgpod

In this third and final part of a remarkable conversation, Milton Bearden reflects on the aftermath of the anti-Soviet jihad, the collapse of Afghanistan into civil war, and the decisions that helped shape the world that followed.He speaks candidly about Pakistan’s uneasy relationship with the United States, arguing that Washington often treated Islamabad as a temporary necessity rather than a true ally. Bearden also offers blunt assessments of key Mujahideen figures, including Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whom he describes as a deeply dangerous man, and reflects on the rivalries and corruption that consumed the movement after victory.The conversation explores the rise of the Taliban, the misreading of Afghanistan by American policymakers, and the wider failures that followed the Soviet defeat. Bearden recalls how many in Washington came to dismiss Afghanistan as a remote and alien place once the Cold War objective had been achieved, despite the warning signs emerging from the chaos left behind.He also reveals the extraordinary practical realities behind the covert war. From purchasing mules to arranging comforts for a deserting Soviet pilot, Bearden says he became involved in almost every aspect of the jihad. He challenges some of the mythology surrounding the war itself, discussing the realities of CIA and ISI cooperation, the flow of money and weapons, and the complicated personalities behind the anti-Soviet campaign.At times reflective and at times brutally direct, Bearden describes how former allies turned on one another, and how the consequences of those years continued to shape Afghanistan long after the world stopped paying attention.A striking conclusion to a rare firsthand account from the man who oversaw one of the CIA’s most consequential covert wars.👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTubeProducer | Host: Roh YakobiAssistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/rohyakobiInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theafgpodX: https://x.com/theafgpod