Afghanistan: The Center of the World
This episode is the first part in a series about Afghanistan, focused on the country and its people. It was first released at the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The series won a Peabody Award in June 2022.
Listen to Throughline on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and check out Part 2 and Part 3 of our reporting.
Afghanistan has, for centuries, been at the center of the world. Long before the U.S. invasion — before the U.S. was even a nation — countless civilizations intersected there, weaving together a colorful tapestry of foods, languages, ethnicities and visions of what Afghanistan was and could be. The story of Afghanistan is too often told from the perspective of outsiders who tried to invade it (and always failed) earning it the nickname "Graveyard of Empires." In this episode, we're shifting the perspective. We'll journey through the centuries alongside Afghan mystical poets. We'll turn the radio dial to hear songs of love and liberation. We'll meet the queen who built the first primary school for girls in the country. And we'll take a closer look at Afghanistan's centuries-long experiment to create a unified nation.
If you would like to read more about Afghanistan:
- The Essential Rumi by Jalal Al-Din Rumi
- Two Kings And A Leader: Mahmud Tarzi by Omer Tarzi
- Blood Washing Blood: Afghanistan's Hundred-Year War by Phil Halton
- Afghanistan Rising: Islamic Law and Statecraft between the Ottoman and British Empires by Faiz Ahmed
Check out some of the Afghan music you listened to on the episode:
- Tu Ba Mani (Ahmad Zahir)
- Hindi (Ahmad Zahir)
- Mere Mehboob Qayamat Hogi (Kishore Kumar)
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