Sarah Chayes on Afghanistan

By guest host John Hockenberry:

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan nearly thirty years ago set in motion events that live in our headlines today. The war-torn nation that hosted the planners of 9/11, lived through the brutal Taliban regime, and then a U.S. invasion, is far from stable now... even with its supposedly pro-US government.

Reporter, activist, entrepreneur Sara Chayes has lived both the breathtaking promise and the stalled promises of the new Afghanistan. With an unmatched perspective she has seen at ground level what has been done there and how much is left to do.

Heat about award-winning journalist Sara Chayes' journey to find and tell the truth about one of the most beautiful, frustrating, and violent places on earth.

--- Quotes from The Show --

"What I've really come to understand... is the importance of particular local knowledge --that you can't simply take a model and apply it from one country to another or even one region to another in a place like Afghanistan." - Sarah Chayes

"One of the real failings that I've seen in the international intervention in Afghanistan has been the acquisition and transmission of knowledge." - Sarah Chayes

Guests:

Rachel Morarjee, Financial Times reporter

Sarah Chayes, former overseas reporter for NPR, author of "The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban."