Afghanistan with Roh Yakobi

Rahmatullah Nabil is an Afghan politician and former intelligence chief. Having lost his father at the age of one, he was raised by his mother, who dedicated her life to him. Nabil left school and joined one of the Mujahideen factions as a teenager. An ambush on Soviet forces, during which he was injured, and the discovery of a handwritten letter belonging to a Soviet soldier, changed his life. This led him to become a refugee in Pakistan, where he graduated from university and worked for the UN. He eventually joined the Afghan Republic government, becoming the country’s spymaster and later a presidential candidate. In this interview, he shares his extraordinary life story, and his thoughts and hopes for Afghanistan.📺 Watch on YouTube.Producer: Roh YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comInstagram: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobiX: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi

Sir William Patey is a retired British diplomat with extensive experience in Middle Eastern and South Asian geopolitics. He served as the UK Ambassador to Kabul from 2010 to 2012, following earlier roles as Ambassador to Sudan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. In this interview, he shares his insights and analysis on Afghanistan—discussing what went wrong, what the future may hold, and recounting stories from his time in the country.📺 Watch on YouTube.Producer: Roh YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comInstagram: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobiX: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi

Mark Urban is a British journalist, broadcaster, and best-selling author of many books, including War in Afghanistan and The Skripal Files. He has covered Afghanistan extensively since the late 1980s, witnessing firsthand the withdrawal of Soviet forces, accompanying Ahmad Shah Massoud as he took Kabul in 1992, and other key events. In this interview, he shares his stories of the country and his thoughts on its future, as well the impacts of the West's failure.📺 Watch on YouTube.Producer: Roh YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comInstagram: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobiX: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi

Sir Laurie Bristow, the UK's last ambassador in Kabul, witnessed the disintegration of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the fall of Kabul into the hands of the Taliban in August 2021. He is the author of Kabul: Final Call, which provides an insider's view of the events as they unfolded. In this interview, we discuss the book, Sir Laurie’s reflections on his experiences, and his thoughts on the current situation in the country and its future.📺 Watch on YouTube.Producer: Roh YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comInstagram: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobiX: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi

Professor Thomas Barfield is one of the preeminent experts on Afghanistan, having spent over five decades studying and writing on the country. He is the author of 'Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History' and 'Shadow Empires,' among many others. In this interview, he talks about traveling around Afghanistan for the first time in 1971 and the impact it had on him, his fieldwork in northern Afghanistan, the country's history, its place in the region, its complex politics and society, as well as his thoughts on the future, along with plenty of fascinating and funny stories and anecdotes.📺 Watch on YouTube: youtu.be/NaKD_xUhlAgProducer: Roh YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comInstagram: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobiX: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi

Professor Thomas Barfield is one of the preeminent experts on Afghanistan, having spent over five decades studying and writing on the country. He is the author of 'Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History' and 'Shadow Empires,' among many others. In this interview, he talks about traveling around Afghanistan for the first time in 1971 and the impact it had on him, his fieldwork in northern Afghanistan, the country's history, its place in the region, its complex politics and society, as well as his thoughts on the future, along with plenty of fascinating and funny stories and anecdotes.📺 Watch on YouTube: youtu.be/NaKD_xUhlAgSubscribe through “Support the Show” link below.Send us a Text Message.Support the Show.Producer: Roh YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comInstagram: @RohYakobi X: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi

Artemis Akbary is an LGBTIQ rights activist and the co-founder and Executive Director of the Afghan LGBT Organization (ALO), and a producer/presenter at Radio Ranginkaman. They have spoken and campaigned at various international gatherings about the plight of the LGBTIQ community in Afghanistan. In this moving interview, Artemis shares their personal story, and their harrowing experience of growing up in Iran, fleeing to Turkey, and then settling in Europe, enduring years of torment and abuse, as well sharing stories of LGBTIQ  men and women persecuted in Afghanistan.Subscribe through “Support the Show” link below.Send us a Text Message.Support the Show.Producer: Roh YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comInstagram: @RohYakobi X: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi

Thomas Ruttig is a co-founder of the Afghanistan Analysts Network. He has worked on and in Afghanistan since he graduated in Afghan Studies from Humboldt University, Berlin in 1985: as an East German (GDR) diplomat, including at the GDR Embassy in Kabul (1985-89), as political affairs officer for two United Nations missions in Afghanistan (2000-2003, including as UNSMA head of office Kabul, adviser to the Afghan Independent Emergency Loya Jirga Commission and UNAMA head of office Islamabad and Gardez), deputy to the EU Special Representative for Afghanistan (2003-2004); political adviser to the German Embassy in Kabul (2004-06). In this interview he shares his story of Afghanistan and the history of Germany's relationship with the country. Subscribe through “Support the Show” link below.Send us a Text Message.Support the Show.Producer: Roh YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comInstagram: @RohYakobi X: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi

Thomas Ruttig is a co-founder of the Afghanistan Analysts Network. He has worked on and in Afghanistan since he graduated in Afghan Studies from Humboldt University, Berlin in 1985: as an East German (GDR) diplomat, including at the GDR Embassy in Kabul (1985-89), as political affairs officer for two United Nations missions in Afghanistan (2000-2003, including as UNSMA head of office Kabul, adviser to the Afghan Independent Emergency Loya Jirga Commission and UNAMA head of office Islamabad and Gardez), deputy to the EU Special Representative for Afghanistan (2003-2004); political adviser to the German Embassy in Kabul (2004-06). In this interview he shares his story of Afghanistan and the history of Germany's relationship with the country. Subscribe through “Support the show” link below.Send us a Text Message.Support the Show.Producer: Roh YakobiMusic ©: Dawood SarkhoshEmail: hello@rohyakobi.comInstagram: @RohYakobi X: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi