Accessibility links
Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson Special correspondent Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is based in Berlin. Her reports can be heard on NPR's award-winning programs, including Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and read at NPR.org.
Soraya Nelson
Stories By

Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson

Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is a NPR foreign correspondent based in Cairo.

Arts & Life

Afghans Struggle to Rebuild National Museum

Efforts to restore the National Museum in Kabul are not unlike the struggle to rebuild Afghanistan itself. Two and a half years after reopening, the three-story building at the edge of Kabul has more scaffolding than exhibits.

Afghans Struggle to Rebuild National Museum

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/9047872/9096433" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

World

U.S. and Iran Talk While Iraq Asks for Help

American and Iranian officials met Saturday in Baghdad as part of a regional conference on Iraqi security. The United States ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said he exchanged views with Iranian delegation "directly and in the presence of others" at the meeting.

U.S. and Iran Talk While Iraq Asks for Help

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7826444/7826445" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

World

Iraqi PM Asks International Community for Help

Officials from 14 countries and three international bodies are took part in a conference on Iraqi security Saturday in Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asked attendees for help in smothering the violence that is tearing his country apart.

Iraqi PM Asks International Community for Help

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7819814/7819815" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

World

U.S. Troops Enter Sadr City for 'Soft Knock' Op

U.S. forces push into volatile Sadr City as the Baghdad "surge" expands. U.S. forces are busy setting up a checkpoint and going on what they call a "soft knock" house-by-house search of one neighborhood.

U.S. Troops Enter Sadr City for 'Soft Knock' Op

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7779863/7779864" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

World

Petraeus Sees Improvements, Peril in Iraq

Gen. David Petraeus gives his first news conference since assuming command of U.S. forces in Iraq. He says insurgents are increasing "sensational attacks" in an effort to thwart U.S. and Iraqi efforts to restore order in Baghdad.

Petraeus Sees Improvements, Peril in Iraq

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7770288/7770289" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

World

Iraqi Shiite Pilgrims Persist, Despite Attacks

There were more attacks against Shiite pilgrims in Iraq, including a bombing followed by gunfire. Bombings Tuesday left more than 120 dead. Despite the grave risk, pilgrims continue to flow toward Kerbala for weekend rites marking the end of a 40-day mourning period for the death of Imam Hussein, who died in the 7th century.

Iraqi Shiite Pilgrims Persist, Despite Attacks

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7761649/7761650" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

World

Deadly Baghdad Bombing Punctuates Security Push

About 1,200 U.S. and Iraqi forces have begun a security push in Sadr City, an impoverished part of Baghdad. Elsewhere in the capital, a suicide car bomb killed at least 26 people in a busy commercial district.

Deadly Baghdad Bombing Punctuates Security Push

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7711132/7711133" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

World

Troops Crack Down on Simmering Sadr City

U.S. and Iraqi troops moved into the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad on Sunday as part of the security crackdown they launched last month. The district is the stronghold of the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Troops Crack Down on Simmering Sadr City

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7708267/7708268" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

World

Soccer Field a Rare Respite from Baghdad Violence

The "People of Baghdad" soccer field isn't much to look at: mostly dirt, 18 feet too short, with torn yellow and green goal nets at each end. But over the last two years, hundreds of Iraqi teens and men from all religions and sects have come here to play soccer. It's a rare respite from the sectarian and religious strife tearing Baghdad apart.

Soccer Field a Rare Respite from Baghdad Violence

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7706182/7706183" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

World

Baghdad Crackdown Targets Sunni Neighborhoods

U.S. troops have launched their biggest operation yet in the two-week security crackdown in Baghdad. Many Sunni neighborhoods in and around Baghdad were rocked Thursday night by dozens of loud explosions.

Baghdad Crackdown Targets Sunni Neighborhoods

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7681884/7681885" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

World

Afghan Demonstrators Call for Wide Amnesty

Former Afghan mujahedeen and several thousand of their supporters held an unprecedented protest at Kabul's National Stadium to criticize the central government and the United States for turning their backs on their one-time allies.

Afghan Demonstrators Call for Wide Amnesty

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7577569/7577572" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

World

NATO's Afghan Trade School Underscores Challenge

The official opening of a Western-built trade school in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan this past weekend is part of NATO's "hearts and mind" campaign. But even with the base's fortifications, local officials say the students who attend aren't safe and are in danger of being killed by the Taliban.

NATO's Afghan Trade School Underscores Challenge

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7532214/7532215" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

World

Town's Fate Highlights Complexities of Afghan Conflict

Taliban militants have held a small farming town in southern Afghanistan for two weeks. So far, neither the Afghan government nor NATO forces have tried to take it back. At issue is a controversial deal, struck last fall by tribal elders, that many hoped might help end the war.

Town's Fate Highlights Complexities of Afghan Conflict

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7416248/7416249" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

World

As Aid Runs Out, Afghan Farmers Return to Poppy

Foreign aid is meant to ease Afghanistan's economic dependency on poppy harvests. As President Hamid Karzai pushes provincial governors to crack down on the drug trade, Afghan farmers complain that no one is helping them. Many who gave up their poppy crops last year say they are planting them again.

As Aid Runs Out, Afghan Farmers Return to Poppy

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/7283479/7283480" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript