July 3, 2024 • 37 mins
As the Taliban returns, Massood Sanjer - the head of TOLO TV - has to make a decision. Should he do what they want and take Afghan Star off the air, or keep fighting for the revolution he helped start.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Hello and welcome if you're watching in the UK or
around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
On the morning of August fifteenth, twenty twenty one, journalist
Yaoda Hakim is reporting live from her news desk in London.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
The again Presidential Palace has tweeted that gunshots have been
heard at a number of points around Koble.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So what's odd is that today almost every single news
channel across the globe is covering the same story. The
situation on the ground is changing fast hour to hour.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
It has intensified over the past couple of hours.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Taliban now bolds all of Ghanistan's border crossings amidst the
offense across the country.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yalder's own family fled Afghanistan when she was just six
months old, traveling by horseback, and though she built a
new life as a journalist in Australia and London, she's
made an effort to stay close to her home country,
returning to do war reporting and breaking news. And then
when Yalder is live on air mid interview, she looks down.
(01:24):
Her phone is ringing in front of her.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
And it says, Sir hel Shaheen on it, you know
a Taliban spokesperson.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
She can't let it go to voicemail, so she cuts
off her interview.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
It's going to interrupt you, and I pressed the green button. Okay,
We've just got spokesperson of the Taliban, so Hel Shahin
on the line.
Speaker 5 (01:46):
Mister Shaheen, can you hear me?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Her colleagues are staring at her from behind the camera
trying to figure out why is she answering a call
while she's live on television.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Okay, I'm just just We've just got put the speaker
on and I sort of said, you know, mister Shaheen,
can you hear us?
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Can you hear us? And he was sort of saying,
yes I can, mister Shahin.
Speaker 6 (02:09):
There is a lot of chaos and confusion in Karbal
at the moment. Can you just help us understand what
the Taliban plan to do at present and next.
Speaker 7 (02:23):
Yes, it should not be any confusion.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
He was telling me what their plans were and what
they were doing, and their slogan was this time it's
going to be different.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
We're not going to do the things that we said.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Women will be educated, girls can get an education, women
can work. We will ensure that we are not isolated
from the international community. You will ensure that within the
framework of Islam, people have their.
Speaker 8 (02:48):
Rights, a peaceful trans our power.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
This was, you know, a Taliban two point zero.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Taliban two point zero, a new era, But what would
that mean for ordinary Afghans. I'm John Legend and from Kaleidoscope,
and iHeart this is Afghan Star. Previously, a woman wins
(03:30):
the show for the very first time.
Speaker 9 (03:32):
I think I screamed when I heard her name, and
I just held her in my arms and I gave
her a tight hat.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
And Afghanistan's biggest pop star, Arianna said is forced to flee.
Speaker 9 (03:46):
I guess it was the most glamorous running for your
life ever.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Chapter one, Last Man Standing. On August fifteenth, twenty twenty one,
Arianna Sayid was sitting in hair and makeup when she
finally admitted it was time to run. Like so many others,
she had been holding out hope, believing the Taliban surge
(04:30):
could be kept at bay, but the Taliban forces had
stormed Cobble with ease, and now they were closing in
on their targets. Ariana wasn't the only one trying to escape.
Speaker 9 (04:44):
Thousands and thousands of people were basically piled up on
each other, trying to get inside the airport. There was
actually no air, no oxygen, and thousands of people stuck
to each other.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Everyone was desperate to get on this one American plane.
Speaker 9 (05:07):
My fiance went first, and then he reached the gates
spoke to one of the US soldiers, and the US
soldiers didn't care. He said he didn't believe his story.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Ariana's fiance was pleading, trying to communicate that Ariana is
a singer, she's a famous singer, and that she's in
direct danger right.
Speaker 9 (05:28):
Now, and then we needed to, you know, be helped.
And he had said, oh, US citizens only, and my
fiance started shouting at the soldier.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
You have to let us in, you have to please,
But the US soldier was unmoved. After all, they weren't
the only ones begging. There was a sea of desperate
people all trying to bore.
Speaker 9 (05:54):
But then this Afghan translator recognized my fiance's voice, and
then he had told the soldier that he actually is
telling the truth, that his wife is a singer and
they're in danger. So they led us through. Me and
(06:16):
my fiance were the last two passengers that got into
that plane. There was probably, i don't know, maybe five
to seven hundred people sitting on that plane, next to
each other on the floor. Of course, I was very
relieved and pleased and grateful to God that he had
(06:38):
given me another chance. But I was numb by what
had happened in Afghanistan, and my heart was bleeding for
the people who were left behind, and I just just
couldn't stop crying.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
You probably remember seeing scenes like this on the news,
the chaos outside Kabo Airport, the throngs of people fighting
to get on a flight, the people who are so
desperate to leave they climbed onto the wings of the aircraft,
clinging for their lives, only to drop to their deaths
(07:20):
from a few hundred feet in the air. I remember watching,
glued to my TV screen, just feeling the hopelessness of
it all.
Speaker 10 (07:37):
As the Taliban celebrate. The mood on the streets of
Kabble is tense. Those who can escape are making a
run for the airport. Others here seem resigned to a
return to Taliban Mould you face an unknown future? What
will happen if the Taliban come? Will you stay in Kabble?
Speaker 7 (07:57):
Of course we said it is on a.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
But that wasn't the only narrative. On the ground, there
was also a sense that maybe the Taliban had changed.
They were on social media now, they tweeted, they were
making reassuring comments about women. They were calling journalists like
YadA and sharing their plans. Maybe they'd learned a lesson.
(08:26):
Maybe this actually was a new Taliban Chapter two Decisions.
(08:48):
Just a stone's throw from the airport, a TV producer
is weighing the question of how much the Taliban has
changed in real time. His name is Masud Sanjar and
he is not running for his life, not yet anyway.
(09:10):
Masud is the director of channels at Tolo TV. He's
standing in the office wondering, what the hell do I do?
Do I keep the shows running, the soap opers, the
news and what about Afghan Star? Because how much has
the Taliban really changed? The question is visceral for my
(09:31):
suit because he has first hand experience. As a kid
fresh out of school in the nineties, he worked in
a radio station for the Taliban.
Speaker 11 (09:44):
Everything was very heavily censored. Was a fearful job.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
For ten dollars a month. Masud would translate whatever news
or decree the Taliban gave him into English. Then he'd
read it on air. Mau D had gone into radio
because he loved the medium. But then the Taliban took
over and they kept him on. And once you work
for the Taliban, it's very difficult to get out.
Speaker 11 (10:11):
A friend of mine made a mistake. He was in
the container for three days, just eating one piece of
bread and a boiled potato.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
So he read the headlines even when they made his
stomach churn. From hangings to edicts to the night the
Taliban destroyed the giant Buddhas that once towered over the
Bamiyan Valley. These awful and seminal moments of Taliban rain
were all broadcast in Masud's voice.
Speaker 11 (10:42):
If I had a choice, I would have never never
read it. I always hated them, and but there was
no other way.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
After the Taliban fell, Sad Mussni hired Masud at his
radio station Arman FM, and Masoud became one of the
first DJs on the airways, and pretty soon he was
a voice for the voiceless. He would stand and report
from a pothole until it got fixed. He would highlight
corruption and call up ministers for answers. One man had
(11:20):
waited six months to get a license and Masud and
his team got the situation taken care of with one
live phone call. Years before Afghan Star launched, Masud was
using his morning show to wake up the country. But
that was just the beginning for Maud. Over the next
two decades, he worked his way up to become head
(11:42):
up Tolo TV and then director of Channels, and that's
where we find him now in August twenty twenty one,
Standing in the nearly empty Afghan Star office with no
idea of what to do, Masoud runs his hands through
(12:03):
his thick, salt and pepper flecked hair. He doesn't know
if the Taliban are going to destroy the station or
if they'll allow the company to continue operating under the
Taliban's new and improved regime. Many of Masoud's colleagues have
already left the company the country. He's one of the
only senior employees remaining.
Speaker 11 (12:25):
CEO was in Germany, our head of news run away
a day before, but I was making all the decisions
on what to put on.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Air, and so Masoud is steering this beast alone. One
of the last guardians of the cultural revolution. He and
Sa'ad and Daoude and Ariana lodged.
Speaker 11 (12:45):
It was a chaos.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
The skies are filled with aircraft evacuating foreign nationals. Embassies
are burning their files. Explosions can be heard, but no
one knows how close they are.
Speaker 11 (13:02):
I could see that the army people, the police were
just taking off their uniforms and they were just dropping
their weapons in the ditch, and they were just running,
running away.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Masud can see that the few staff members left in
the office are terrified. They're watching the growing crowds in
the street too.
Speaker 11 (13:23):
If your president runs away in a helicopter, if your
defense minister is on the run, how can you expect
from a soldier on the battlefield to form a front
and fight.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Masude calls a meeting. He gathers everyone together in the
office and he tells.
Speaker 12 (13:43):
Them you go home.
Speaker 11 (13:45):
I'll stay in the office.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
He stays with just a few members of the staff
so they can keep updating the public for hours. They
wait until finally he can see Taliban by in the
streets outside.
Speaker 11 (14:03):
Nobody expected that the cowboy was going to fall as fast.
I was on the phone until twelve am because I
was the one who was hitting the channels, and I
had to call my guys what to put on.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
But knowing that the Taliban are right outside my suit.
Isn't so confident anymore. You can imagine the memories flashing
through his head, memories from the last time the Taliban
were in power.
Speaker 11 (14:33):
I remember when we went to watch a football match
in the stadium. They brought this man who killed someone
and they just put him in the middle of the stadium,
shot them and took the body and went and the
match back on.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
He remembers the bodies that lined the streets.
Speaker 11 (14:53):
One night, I came from the radio station and I
look at the roundabout and there were four people hanging there.
I don't know they were there for four days.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
At some point, Masud realizes there's no way of winning
right now because Taliban two point zero is a myth,
a pr stunt. So Masud gives his team an order.
Speaker 11 (15:20):
And the very first night, we changed all the normal
drama series is. We cut the music. We had put
some Islamic shows on the primetime which we have never
dead before.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
And he acknowledges defeat.
Speaker 11 (15:34):
There's no music, there are no series is, there's no
Afghan start. We have changed everything. On the night the
Taliban took over the.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Cultural revolution, he helped ignite Afghan Star, the show that
took on the Taliban. It ends tonight. He pulls it
from the air. It's over. Hey, it's John Legend. If
(16:12):
you've been listening, you already know that Afghan Star is
a tale of resistance and hope. For fifteen years, Afghan
Star was a beacon, but when the Taliban returned to power,
they shut the show down along with so many Afghan rights.
They banned music education for girls and women, and they
(16:33):
continue to clamp down on everyone's freedoms. But there are
ways to show your support. We've teamed up with Awa
Studios and their incredible graphic artists to illustrate some of
the most extraordinary moments in this podcast. There is a
unique print for each episode, bringing to life powerful moments
(16:55):
that are moving and inspiring. And there's an unforgettable based
on a painting from Superstar artist Raza that represents the
spirit of hope embodied by the show. Art and music
have the power to uplift us all, and ordering a
work for yourself or as a gift help support Afghans.
(17:18):
With every purchase, we'll be donating to the Nore Initiative,
a nonprofit working to ensure that every Afghan Girl has
access to education and opportunity. For more information on our
collaboration with AWA, the artworks available to listeners, and to
learn more about the NORE Initiative's efforts to educate, support
(17:41):
independent media, and transform lives across the region, head to
the link in our show notes below chapter three back
to ninety six. Shortly after taking over in August twenty
(18:04):
twenty one, the Taliban hold a press conference setting out
their vision for the country, reminding the world of their
new and improved regime pua.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
We have pardoned anyone all those who had fought against us.
We don't want to repeat of war. We want to
do away with the factors of conflict. So the Islamic
Emirate of Afghanistan does not have any conflict with anybody.
We want the fighting to end.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
They declare that women can work, girls can get an
education muda hid.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Though the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is committed to the
rights of women within the framework of Sharia, our women
have the same rights. They can work in different sectors
on the basis of our rules and regulations in education
and health and other areas.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
But within a few weeks things start to.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Change the country's new rulers now no longer allow boys
and girls to attend schools together.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Secondary school are also off limits.
Speaker 6 (19:01):
Women are now unable to comfortably leave their homes without
a male gold.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Women are required to wear the burker when they leave
their house.
Speaker 10 (19:07):
Their faces must be hidden.
Speaker 13 (19:09):
The Taliban have imposed for the restrictions on the rights
of women in Afghanistan, banning females from parks and.
Speaker 14 (19:15):
Fit tears in the classroom as female students realize the
Taliban are banning them from university.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
And then it happens.
Speaker 13 (19:32):
The Taliban in Afghanistan has burned musical instruments, claiming music
causes in moral corruption. Thousands of dollars worth of instruments
were sent up in smoke and a bonfire after all
forms of music was banned from social gatherings. The decision
is one of the numerous restrictions that have been imposed
under the strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Musicians flee, instruments are burned once again, and for the
first in twenty years, Afghanistan is plunged back into silence.
(20:19):
And that's it. That's the end of this story. After
twenty years, we pretty much ended up where we started,
and I know you might be thinking, what was the point?
A lot of Americans, fatigued by the news of the
war have asked themselves that to families who lost young soldiers,
(20:42):
men and women who came back with PTSD for what.
When the United States withdrew from Afghanistan, It's almost like
we were trying to shake off a mistake, wiping our
hands of the problems there. And ever since, the world
(21:03):
kind of shut Afghanistan out. There's a sense that all
of this was inevitable, that of course the Taliban was
going to come back into power and reinstate their brutal regime.
But that's not what the people living there think.
Speaker 7 (21:20):
Guftan bahanis bahananah money, Guftan bahan nimes Bahanaay.
Speaker 11 (21:32):
Everything was so good that you didn't have chance to
think about all this negativity. You were all positive. Afghanistan
was changing. You could see that all these young kids
studying abroad coming back to Afghanistan, like I saw the
progress with my eyes.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
There were two generations of kids who grew up believing
in a new Afghanistan. There were women singing on television,
and people from different warring tribes hugging each other on
Afghan Star, showing the country they could coexist. There were
rappers and punk musicians, and this palpable sense of a
country thick with hope and culture and this sea of
(22:12):
young people. To them, those twenty years without Taliban rain
meant something.
Speaker 10 (22:30):
Zudigikasafer Heyasafer.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Today almost everyone involved in Afghan Star lives in exile. Shaki,
the winner of season one with the Beautiful Voice. He
lives in Florida.
Speaker 12 (22:52):
I was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, with lots of hopes.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
But right now where I am, I am happy. That's it.
Speaker 15 (23:03):
Janee coo Ja.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Habib, the young producer in Daywood's Protege.
Speaker 16 (23:20):
I'm living in Germany since nine years now.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Ariana hops from one city to another. Sad is in London,
and Masoud he managed to get out too. In his
escape story, he fashions a cloth into a makeshift hijab
to keep from getting recognized. He lives in Turkey.
Speaker 8 (23:41):
Now.
Speaker 11 (23:43):
It's very hard because in Turkey there are eighty million
people and I'm only eighty million and one. But in Afghanistan,
I could make a difference every single day, So it's
a big, big difference. And sometimes I feel sad that
I can't do anything.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
For people today. Masoud runs the TV output in Afghanistan
from an office in Istanbul. The channels are tame closely
watched by the Taliban ministers, but that doesn't mean he's
lowered his ambitions. There's talk of trying to put another
season of Afghanistar together, getting the band back for one
(24:20):
last go from abroad, streaming it into Afghanistan as a
little beam of hope, a reminder for everyone left behind
that they haven't been forgotten. Masud. He sits in his
desk chair and swivels around to point out his daughter's
(24:41):
drawings pinned behind him.
Speaker 11 (24:43):
They told her that to draw something from Turkey, she
draw a hell in Afghanistan and put a flag of Afghanistan.
And she lefts Afghanistan.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Yeah, Masud and his daughter, they miss Afghanistan. Every Afghan
we've spoken to in this series says they miss Afghanistan.
They worry for their friends, They dream of their homes,
and they think about the music, all the music they
(25:16):
danced to, sung along to, helped create. They wonder what
happened to all that music? Where it's gone? Is there
anything left? But while most are too afraid to find
(25:40):
out for themselves to go back. There's one guy, one
crazy guy who wasn't afraid, and he wasn't ready to
give up when everyone else was trying to get a
ticket out of there, he was trying to sneak back in.
Speaker 16 (25:56):
And took a big risk. But that's who I am.
I do these crazy things all the time.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Daoud Sidiki, the man who started this story. The last
time you heard from Daoud was about fifteen years ago.
He was at sun Dance watching the premiere of a
documentary about Afghanistan, and then he went Mia. In the
years that followed, he settled in Washington, DC and got
(26:24):
a job working as a broadcaster in America. But in
twenty twenty two, he gets the news that his dad
is sick.
Speaker 16 (26:33):
I wanted to meet him at last moments.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
And so he decides to go back to an Afghanistan
run by the Taliban, in Afghanistan, where he might very
well be a wanted man.
Speaker 16 (26:48):
I took a big risk.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Basically, it's a big risk because remember, for a time,
Daoud was the most famous person in Afghanistan, the host
of the countries the biggest TV show. But it's what
he does next that shows exactly who he is. When
Daoud goes to his family home, he sees his cassette collection,
(27:13):
the one he amassed in secret under the first Taliban regime,
tapes and tapes including a Kaman Zahir's music, the Afghan
Elvis singing songs about freedom and peace.
Speaker 16 (27:27):
If I take it outside, that means I can save them.
If I don't, that means let the Taliban destroy everything. Basically,
that's what will happen if I do not take them out.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Daoud has seen viral videos of the Taliban burning piles
of musical instruments. He knows Afghan star violinists who have
set fire to their own sheet music. He's read the
articles about musicians leaving the country, Afghanistan's all female orchestra
exiled in Portugal. Music here is on a path to extinction,
(28:05):
and he realizes if he leaves these cassettes behind, they
will be erased as well, and so Daoud gets to work.
He thumbs to his collection, pulling out cassette after cassette.
Speaker 16 (28:21):
And put most of my cassettes. I can see the
ones that I really love in my luggage.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
But we're not talking five or ten cassettes here.
Speaker 16 (28:31):
Like I brought around three hundred or three hundred and
fifty cassettes in one of my luggage.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
He loads hundreds of bulky tapes into his suitcase until
he can't bit another, and then he zips it up
and heads to the airport.
Speaker 16 (28:48):
I put a mask and I put the hat and
tried to hide myself.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
He can see the Taliban patrolling the airport outside.
Speaker 16 (28:56):
It was very scary situation. When I just came to
the airport, my heart was beating very hard.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
He's risking his life for these tapes because they mean
everything to him.
Speaker 16 (29:09):
And praying in my heart that God please please allow
me to take these out. And if they find out,
they will ask who's that and what's going on? What
are these tapes?
Speaker 2 (29:19):
If he's discovered the tapes will be the least of
his worries. He gets to the front of the security line.
He takes off his shoes. He puts his bag onto
the conveyor belt. He's trying to be casual to go unnoticed.
His bag starts moving down the conveyor into the X
(29:40):
ray machine. He walks forward, slowly, head down, praying. The
bag just goes through and he can pick it up
on the other side. And that's when he feels a
tap on his shoulder. It's the security guard asking Daoud
to step aside.
Speaker 16 (30:00):
Says, sit, what'scing on?
Speaker 5 (30:02):
What are these cussos?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Bust? Daoud is certain he's about to be arrested and
handed over to the Taliban. The security guy opens Daoud's
bag and.
Speaker 16 (30:17):
Says, everything needs to be returned. You cannot take them.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
And then the guy looks at him, puts him right
in the eye.
Speaker 16 (30:32):
When he saw me, he say, oh my god, that's you.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
He has been gone from Afghanistan for over a decade
and still this security guard sees him and knows exactly
who he is. And then he sees a big smile
break across his face and he turns to Daoud and tells.
Speaker 16 (30:57):
Him he said no, no, no, go ahead, you're fine.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Go ahead. Daoud grabs his bags and makes a pe
line for the plane.
Speaker 16 (31:09):
And I took my tips and put it on the airplane,
and I was so happy.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Daou Sidiki lives in Washington, d C. Now he's got
a wife and kids, and his home office is you
know what, Let's let him tell you.
Speaker 16 (31:33):
Oh my god, I love it. I know this is
a podcast, but if you see my room, I decorated
my room with my cassette taps. The decoration of my
room is cassette players and cassette tapes. This is how
it is all around me. And I have like specifically
one cassette holder with one hundred cassettes that these are
(31:57):
my top caste tips that I'm proud of. Like these
cassettes are kind of like historic art effect of Avanistan. Oh,
(32:21):
these were the pop cassettes or the songs that I
really love. But I love a lot of them, especially
the song It's all about Freedom.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Duggy.
Speaker 8 (32:57):
Shut Out, zyd Vandagy, the car name.
Speaker 12 (33:17):
Van Day, Charcoal Bosh Zendagi, the record n.
Speaker 8 (33:27):
Day van Dagy.
Speaker 12 (33:32):
The.
Speaker 16 (33:39):
And the song Amazar says that finally life will end
anyway servitude is not okay. If servitude is the condition
and life, life doesn't work. This is very iconic and
(34:00):
revolutionary song. These cassettes bring me the memories of the
(34:30):
past and comforts me in a very hard time. It's
just bring me back the older answer.
Speaker 15 (35:02):
Arkasha Doshmo, Arkashaws, Mama Monas, Kusho.
Speaker 14 (35:15):
Margo, Shikas Standing Shapindegi the recall names Zindagi, Saramia Vandegi,
The Coon.
Speaker 12 (35:33):
Bandagi, Sharka Bosha, Zindagi.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
H Afghan Star is a Kaleidoscope production in collaboration with
(36:20):
iHeart Podcasts, produced by samas dot Audio and hosted by
me John Legend from samas dot Audio. The series producer
is Mira Kumar. Our executive producers are Joe Sikes and
Dasha Listsina. Mixed and sound designed by Jeff Imptman, Story
(36:45):
editing by Joe Sikes, with original composition by Kyle Murdoch,
Recording engineer Tim McClain. Chapter artwork by A w A
Studios Kaleidoscope. The executive producers are Kate Osborne, Mengesh Hatikadur
(37:05):
Oz Volisian and Costas Linos from iHeart. The executive producers
are Ali Perry and Katrina NorVa. Social Media by Darra
Patts and Vahini Shormy. Special thanks to Tom Preston, Lizzie Jacobs,
Will Pearson, Carrie Lieberman, Nikki Etore, Bob Pittman, John Sykes,
(37:28):
Conno Byrne Sad Mussenni and the Mossenny Family, Matthew Anderson
and Axe Alonzo
Hello and welcome if you're watching in the UK or
around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
On the morning of August fifteenth, twenty twenty one, journalist
Yaoda Hakim is reporting live from her news desk in London.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
The again Presidential Palace has tweeted that gunshots have been
heard at a number of points around Koble.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So what's odd is that today almost every single news
channel across the globe is covering the same story. The
situation on the ground is changing fast hour to hour.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
It has intensified over the past couple of hours.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Taliban now bolds all of Ghanistan's border crossings amidst the
offense across the country.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yalder's own family fled Afghanistan when she was just six
months old, traveling by horseback, and though she built a
new life as a journalist in Australia and London, she's
made an effort to stay close to her home country,
returning to do war reporting and breaking news. And then
when Yalder is live on air mid interview, she looks down.
(01:24):
Her phone is ringing in front of her.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
And it says, Sir hel Shaheen on it, you know
a Taliban spokesperson.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
She can't let it go to voicemail, so she cuts
off her interview.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
It's going to interrupt you, and I pressed the green button. Okay,
We've just got spokesperson of the Taliban, so Hel Shahin
on the line.
Speaker 5 (01:46):
Mister Shaheen, can you hear me?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Her colleagues are staring at her from behind the camera
trying to figure out why is she answering a call
while she's live on television.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Okay, I'm just just We've just got put the speaker
on and I sort of said, you know, mister Shaheen,
can you hear us?
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Can you hear us? And he was sort of saying,
yes I can, mister Shahin.
Speaker 6 (02:09):
There is a lot of chaos and confusion in Karbal
at the moment. Can you just help us understand what
the Taliban plan to do at present and next.
Speaker 7 (02:23):
Yes, it should not be any confusion.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
He was telling me what their plans were and what
they were doing, and their slogan was this time it's
going to be different.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
We're not going to do the things that we said.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Women will be educated, girls can get an education, women
can work. We will ensure that we are not isolated
from the international community. You will ensure that within the
framework of Islam, people have their.
Speaker 8 (02:48):
Rights, a peaceful trans our power.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
This was, you know, a Taliban two point zero.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Taliban two point zero, a new era, But what would
that mean for ordinary Afghans. I'm John Legend and from Kaleidoscope,
and iHeart this is Afghan Star. Previously, a woman wins
(03:30):
the show for the very first time.
Speaker 9 (03:32):
I think I screamed when I heard her name, and
I just held her in my arms and I gave
her a tight hat.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
And Afghanistan's biggest pop star, Arianna said is forced to flee.
Speaker 9 (03:46):
I guess it was the most glamorous running for your
life ever.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Chapter one, Last Man Standing. On August fifteenth, twenty twenty one,
Arianna Sayid was sitting in hair and makeup when she
finally admitted it was time to run. Like so many others,
she had been holding out hope, believing the Taliban surge
(04:30):
could be kept at bay, but the Taliban forces had
stormed Cobble with ease, and now they were closing in
on their targets. Ariana wasn't the only one trying to escape.
Speaker 9 (04:44):
Thousands and thousands of people were basically piled up on
each other, trying to get inside the airport. There was
actually no air, no oxygen, and thousands of people stuck
to each other.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Everyone was desperate to get on this one American plane.
Speaker 9 (05:07):
My fiance went first, and then he reached the gates
spoke to one of the US soldiers, and the US
soldiers didn't care. He said he didn't believe his story.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Ariana's fiance was pleading, trying to communicate that Ariana is
a singer, she's a famous singer, and that she's in
direct danger right.
Speaker 9 (05:28):
Now, and then we needed to, you know, be helped.
And he had said, oh, US citizens only, and my
fiance started shouting at the soldier.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
You have to let us in, you have to please,
But the US soldier was unmoved. After all, they weren't
the only ones begging. There was a sea of desperate
people all trying to bore.
Speaker 9 (05:54):
But then this Afghan translator recognized my fiance's voice, and
then he had told the soldier that he actually is
telling the truth, that his wife is a singer and
they're in danger. So they led us through. Me and
(06:16):
my fiance were the last two passengers that got into
that plane. There was probably, i don't know, maybe five
to seven hundred people sitting on that plane, next to
each other on the floor. Of course, I was very
relieved and pleased and grateful to God that he had
(06:38):
given me another chance. But I was numb by what
had happened in Afghanistan, and my heart was bleeding for
the people who were left behind, and I just just
couldn't stop crying.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
You probably remember seeing scenes like this on the news,
the chaos outside Kabo Airport, the throngs of people fighting
to get on a flight, the people who are so
desperate to leave they climbed onto the wings of the aircraft,
clinging for their lives, only to drop to their deaths
(07:20):
from a few hundred feet in the air. I remember watching,
glued to my TV screen, just feeling the hopelessness of
it all.
Speaker 10 (07:37):
As the Taliban celebrate. The mood on the streets of
Kabble is tense. Those who can escape are making a
run for the airport. Others here seem resigned to a
return to Taliban Mould you face an unknown future? What
will happen if the Taliban come? Will you stay in Kabble?
Speaker 7 (07:57):
Of course we said it is on a.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
But that wasn't the only narrative. On the ground, there
was also a sense that maybe the Taliban had changed.
They were on social media now, they tweeted, they were
making reassuring comments about women. They were calling journalists like
YadA and sharing their plans. Maybe they'd learned a lesson.
(08:26):
Maybe this actually was a new Taliban Chapter two Decisions.
(08:48):
Just a stone's throw from the airport, a TV producer
is weighing the question of how much the Taliban has
changed in real time. His name is Masud Sanjar and
he is not running for his life, not yet anyway.
(09:10):
Masud is the director of channels at Tolo TV. He's
standing in the office wondering, what the hell do I do?
Do I keep the shows running, the soap opers, the
news and what about Afghan Star? Because how much has
the Taliban really changed? The question is visceral for my
(09:31):
suit because he has first hand experience. As a kid
fresh out of school in the nineties, he worked in
a radio station for the Taliban.
Speaker 11 (09:44):
Everything was very heavily censored. Was a fearful job.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
For ten dollars a month. Masud would translate whatever news
or decree the Taliban gave him into English. Then he'd
read it on air. Mau D had gone into radio
because he loved the medium. But then the Taliban took
over and they kept him on. And once you work
for the Taliban, it's very difficult to get out.
Speaker 11 (10:11):
A friend of mine made a mistake. He was in
the container for three days, just eating one piece of
bread and a boiled potato.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
So he read the headlines even when they made his
stomach churn. From hangings to edicts to the night the
Taliban destroyed the giant Buddhas that once towered over the
Bamiyan Valley. These awful and seminal moments of Taliban rain
were all broadcast in Masud's voice.
Speaker 11 (10:42):
If I had a choice, I would have never never
read it. I always hated them, and but there was
no other way.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
After the Taliban fell, Sad Mussni hired Masud at his
radio station Arman FM, and Masoud became one of the
first DJs on the airways, and pretty soon he was
a voice for the voiceless. He would stand and report
from a pothole until it got fixed. He would highlight
corruption and call up ministers for answers. One man had
(11:20):
waited six months to get a license and Masud and
his team got the situation taken care of with one
live phone call. Years before Afghan Star launched, Masud was
using his morning show to wake up the country. But
that was just the beginning for Maud. Over the next
two decades, he worked his way up to become head
(11:42):
up Tolo TV and then director of Channels, and that's
where we find him now in August twenty twenty one,
Standing in the nearly empty Afghan Star office with no
idea of what to do, Masoud runs his hands through
(12:03):
his thick, salt and pepper flecked hair. He doesn't know
if the Taliban are going to destroy the station or
if they'll allow the company to continue operating under the
Taliban's new and improved regime. Many of Masoud's colleagues have
already left the company the country. He's one of the
only senior employees remaining.
Speaker 11 (12:25):
CEO was in Germany, our head of news run away
a day before, but I was making all the decisions
on what to put on.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Air, and so Masoud is steering this beast alone. One
of the last guardians of the cultural revolution. He and
Sa'ad and Daoude and Ariana lodged.
Speaker 11 (12:45):
It was a chaos.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
The skies are filled with aircraft evacuating foreign nationals. Embassies
are burning their files. Explosions can be heard, but no
one knows how close they are.
Speaker 11 (13:02):
I could see that the army people, the police were
just taking off their uniforms and they were just dropping
their weapons in the ditch, and they were just running,
running away.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Masud can see that the few staff members left in
the office are terrified. They're watching the growing crowds in
the street too.
Speaker 11 (13:23):
If your president runs away in a helicopter, if your
defense minister is on the run, how can you expect
from a soldier on the battlefield to form a front
and fight.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Masude calls a meeting. He gathers everyone together in the
office and he tells.
Speaker 12 (13:43):
Them you go home.
Speaker 11 (13:45):
I'll stay in the office.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
He stays with just a few members of the staff
so they can keep updating the public for hours. They
wait until finally he can see Taliban by in the
streets outside.
Speaker 11 (14:03):
Nobody expected that the cowboy was going to fall as fast.
I was on the phone until twelve am because I
was the one who was hitting the channels, and I
had to call my guys what to put on.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
But knowing that the Taliban are right outside my suit.
Isn't so confident anymore. You can imagine the memories flashing
through his head, memories from the last time the Taliban
were in power.
Speaker 11 (14:33):
I remember when we went to watch a football match
in the stadium. They brought this man who killed someone
and they just put him in the middle of the stadium,
shot them and took the body and went and the
match back on.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
He remembers the bodies that lined the streets.
Speaker 11 (14:53):
One night, I came from the radio station and I
look at the roundabout and there were four people hanging there.
I don't know they were there for four days.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
At some point, Masud realizes there's no way of winning
right now because Taliban two point zero is a myth,
a pr stunt. So Masud gives his team an order.
Speaker 11 (15:20):
And the very first night, we changed all the normal
drama series is. We cut the music. We had put
some Islamic shows on the primetime which we have never
dead before.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
And he acknowledges defeat.
Speaker 11 (15:34):
There's no music, there are no series is, there's no
Afghan start. We have changed everything. On the night the
Taliban took over the.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Cultural revolution, he helped ignite Afghan Star, the show that
took on the Taliban. It ends tonight. He pulls it
from the air. It's over. Hey, it's John Legend. If
(16:12):
you've been listening, you already know that Afghan Star is
a tale of resistance and hope. For fifteen years, Afghan
Star was a beacon, but when the Taliban returned to power,
they shut the show down along with so many Afghan rights.
They banned music education for girls and women, and they
(16:33):
continue to clamp down on everyone's freedoms. But there are
ways to show your support. We've teamed up with Awa
Studios and their incredible graphic artists to illustrate some of
the most extraordinary moments in this podcast. There is a
unique print for each episode, bringing to life powerful moments
(16:55):
that are moving and inspiring. And there's an unforgettable based
on a painting from Superstar artist Raza that represents the
spirit of hope embodied by the show. Art and music
have the power to uplift us all, and ordering a
work for yourself or as a gift help support Afghans.
(17:18):
With every purchase, we'll be donating to the Nore Initiative,
a nonprofit working to ensure that every Afghan Girl has
access to education and opportunity. For more information on our
collaboration with AWA, the artworks available to listeners, and to
learn more about the NORE Initiative's efforts to educate, support
(17:41):
independent media, and transform lives across the region, head to
the link in our show notes below chapter three back
to ninety six. Shortly after taking over in August twenty
(18:04):
twenty one, the Taliban hold a press conference setting out
their vision for the country, reminding the world of their
new and improved regime pua.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
We have pardoned anyone all those who had fought against us.
We don't want to repeat of war. We want to
do away with the factors of conflict. So the Islamic
Emirate of Afghanistan does not have any conflict with anybody.
We want the fighting to end.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
They declare that women can work, girls can get an
education muda hid.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Though the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is committed to the
rights of women within the framework of Sharia, our women
have the same rights. They can work in different sectors
on the basis of our rules and regulations in education
and health and other areas.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
But within a few weeks things start to.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Change the country's new rulers now no longer allow boys
and girls to attend schools together.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Secondary school are also off limits.
Speaker 6 (19:01):
Women are now unable to comfortably leave their homes without
a male gold.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Women are required to wear the burker when they leave
their house.
Speaker 10 (19:07):
Their faces must be hidden.
Speaker 13 (19:09):
The Taliban have imposed for the restrictions on the rights
of women in Afghanistan, banning females from parks and.
Speaker 14 (19:15):
Fit tears in the classroom as female students realize the
Taliban are banning them from university.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
And then it happens.
Speaker 13 (19:32):
The Taliban in Afghanistan has burned musical instruments, claiming music
causes in moral corruption. Thousands of dollars worth of instruments
were sent up in smoke and a bonfire after all
forms of music was banned from social gatherings. The decision
is one of the numerous restrictions that have been imposed
under the strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Musicians flee, instruments are burned once again, and for the
first in twenty years, Afghanistan is plunged back into silence.
(20:19):
And that's it. That's the end of this story. After
twenty years, we pretty much ended up where we started,
and I know you might be thinking, what was the point?
A lot of Americans, fatigued by the news of the
war have asked themselves that to families who lost young soldiers,
(20:42):
men and women who came back with PTSD for what.
When the United States withdrew from Afghanistan, It's almost like
we were trying to shake off a mistake, wiping our
hands of the problems there. And ever since, the world
(21:03):
kind of shut Afghanistan out. There's a sense that all
of this was inevitable, that of course the Taliban was
going to come back into power and reinstate their brutal regime.
But that's not what the people living there think.
Speaker 7 (21:20):
Guftan bahanis bahananah money, Guftan bahan nimes Bahanaay.
Speaker 11 (21:32):
Everything was so good that you didn't have chance to
think about all this negativity. You were all positive. Afghanistan
was changing. You could see that all these young kids
studying abroad coming back to Afghanistan, like I saw the
progress with my eyes.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
There were two generations of kids who grew up believing
in a new Afghanistan. There were women singing on television,
and people from different warring tribes hugging each other on
Afghan Star, showing the country they could coexist. There were
rappers and punk musicians, and this palpable sense of a
country thick with hope and culture and this sea of
(22:12):
young people. To them, those twenty years without Taliban rain
meant something.
Speaker 10 (22:30):
Zudigikasafer Heyasafer.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Today almost everyone involved in Afghan Star lives in exile. Shaki,
the winner of season one with the Beautiful Voice. He
lives in Florida.
Speaker 12 (22:52):
I was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, with lots of hopes.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
But right now where I am, I am happy. That's it.
Speaker 15 (23:03):
Janee coo Ja.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Habib, the young producer in Daywood's Protege.
Speaker 16 (23:20):
I'm living in Germany since nine years now.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Ariana hops from one city to another. Sad is in London,
and Masoud he managed to get out too. In his
escape story, he fashions a cloth into a makeshift hijab
to keep from getting recognized. He lives in Turkey.
Speaker 8 (23:41):
Now.
Speaker 11 (23:43):
It's very hard because in Turkey there are eighty million
people and I'm only eighty million and one. But in Afghanistan,
I could make a difference every single day, So it's
a big, big difference. And sometimes I feel sad that
I can't do anything.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
For people today. Masoud runs the TV output in Afghanistan
from an office in Istanbul. The channels are tame closely
watched by the Taliban ministers, but that doesn't mean he's
lowered his ambitions. There's talk of trying to put another
season of Afghanistar together, getting the band back for one
(24:20):
last go from abroad, streaming it into Afghanistan as a
little beam of hope, a reminder for everyone left behind
that they haven't been forgotten. Masud. He sits in his
desk chair and swivels around to point out his daughter's
(24:41):
drawings pinned behind him.
Speaker 11 (24:43):
They told her that to draw something from Turkey, she
draw a hell in Afghanistan and put a flag of Afghanistan.
And she lefts Afghanistan.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
Yeah, Masud and his daughter, they miss Afghanistan. Every Afghan
we've spoken to in this series says they miss Afghanistan.
They worry for their friends, They dream of their homes,
and they think about the music, all the music they
(25:16):
danced to, sung along to, helped create. They wonder what
happened to all that music? Where it's gone? Is there
anything left? But while most are too afraid to find
(25:40):
out for themselves to go back. There's one guy, one
crazy guy who wasn't afraid, and he wasn't ready to
give up when everyone else was trying to get a
ticket out of there, he was trying to sneak back in.
Speaker 16 (25:56):
And took a big risk. But that's who I am.
I do these crazy things all the time.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Daoud Sidiki, the man who started this story. The last
time you heard from Daoud was about fifteen years ago.
He was at sun Dance watching the premiere of a
documentary about Afghanistan, and then he went Mia. In the
years that followed, he settled in Washington, DC and got
(26:24):
a job working as a broadcaster in America. But in
twenty twenty two, he gets the news that his dad
is sick.
Speaker 16 (26:33):
I wanted to meet him at last moments.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
And so he decides to go back to an Afghanistan
run by the Taliban, in Afghanistan, where he might very
well be a wanted man.
Speaker 16 (26:48):
I took a big risk.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Basically, it's a big risk because remember, for a time,
Daoud was the most famous person in Afghanistan, the host
of the countries the biggest TV show. But it's what
he does next that shows exactly who he is. When
Daoud goes to his family home, he sees his cassette collection,
(27:13):
the one he amassed in secret under the first Taliban regime,
tapes and tapes including a Kaman Zahir's music, the Afghan
Elvis singing songs about freedom and peace.
Speaker 16 (27:27):
If I take it outside, that means I can save them.
If I don't, that means let the Taliban destroy everything. Basically,
that's what will happen if I do not take them out.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Daoud has seen viral videos of the Taliban burning piles
of musical instruments. He knows Afghan star violinists who have
set fire to their own sheet music. He's read the
articles about musicians leaving the country, Afghanistan's all female orchestra
exiled in Portugal. Music here is on a path to extinction,
(28:05):
and he realizes if he leaves these cassettes behind, they
will be erased as well, and so Daoud gets to work.
He thumbs to his collection, pulling out cassette after cassette.
Speaker 16 (28:21):
And put most of my cassettes. I can see the
ones that I really love in my luggage.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
But we're not talking five or ten cassettes here.
Speaker 16 (28:31):
Like I brought around three hundred or three hundred and
fifty cassettes in one of my luggage.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
He loads hundreds of bulky tapes into his suitcase until
he can't bit another, and then he zips it up
and heads to the airport.
Speaker 16 (28:48):
I put a mask and I put the hat and
tried to hide myself.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
He can see the Taliban patrolling the airport outside.
Speaker 16 (28:56):
It was very scary situation. When I just came to
the airport, my heart was beating very hard.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
He's risking his life for these tapes because they mean
everything to him.
Speaker 16 (29:09):
And praying in my heart that God please please allow
me to take these out. And if they find out,
they will ask who's that and what's going on? What
are these tapes?
Speaker 2 (29:19):
If he's discovered the tapes will be the least of
his worries. He gets to the front of the security line.
He takes off his shoes. He puts his bag onto
the conveyor belt. He's trying to be casual to go unnoticed.
His bag starts moving down the conveyor into the X
(29:40):
ray machine. He walks forward, slowly, head down, praying. The
bag just goes through and he can pick it up
on the other side. And that's when he feels a
tap on his shoulder. It's the security guard asking Daoud
to step aside.
Speaker 16 (30:00):
Says, sit, what'scing on?
Speaker 5 (30:02):
What are these cussos?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Bust? Daoud is certain he's about to be arrested and
handed over to the Taliban. The security guy opens Daoud's
bag and.
Speaker 16 (30:17):
Says, everything needs to be returned. You cannot take them.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
And then the guy looks at him, puts him right
in the eye.
Speaker 16 (30:32):
When he saw me, he say, oh my god, that's you.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
He has been gone from Afghanistan for over a decade
and still this security guard sees him and knows exactly
who he is. And then he sees a big smile
break across his face and he turns to Daoud and tells.
Speaker 16 (30:57):
Him he said no, no, no, go ahead, you're fine.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Go ahead. Daoud grabs his bags and makes a pe
line for the plane.
Speaker 16 (31:09):
And I took my tips and put it on the airplane,
and I was so happy.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Daou Sidiki lives in Washington, d C. Now he's got
a wife and kids, and his home office is you
know what, Let's let him tell you.
Speaker 16 (31:33):
Oh my god, I love it. I know this is
a podcast, but if you see my room, I decorated
my room with my cassette taps. The decoration of my
room is cassette players and cassette tapes. This is how
it is all around me. And I have like specifically
one cassette holder with one hundred cassettes that these are
(31:57):
my top caste tips that I'm proud of. Like these
cassettes are kind of like historic art effect of Avanistan. Oh,
(32:21):
these were the pop cassettes or the songs that I
really love. But I love a lot of them, especially
the song It's all about Freedom.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Duggy.
Speaker 8 (32:57):
Shut Out, zyd Vandagy, the car name.
Speaker 12 (33:17):
Van Day, Charcoal Bosh Zendagi, the record n.
Speaker 8 (33:27):
Day van Dagy.
Speaker 12 (33:32):
The.
Speaker 16 (33:39):
And the song Amazar says that finally life will end
anyway servitude is not okay. If servitude is the condition
and life, life doesn't work. This is very iconic and
(34:00):
revolutionary song. These cassettes bring me the memories of the
(34:30):
past and comforts me in a very hard time. It's
just bring me back the older answer.
Speaker 15 (35:02):
Arkasha Doshmo, Arkashaws, Mama Monas, Kusho.
Speaker 14 (35:15):
Margo, Shikas Standing Shapindegi the recall names Zindagi, Saramia Vandegi,
The Coon.
Speaker 12 (35:33):
Bandagi, Sharka Bosha, Zindagi.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
H Afghan Star is a Kaleidoscope production in collaboration with
(36:20):
iHeart Podcasts, produced by samas dot Audio and hosted by
me John Legend from samas dot Audio. The series producer
is Mira Kumar. Our executive producers are Joe Sikes and
Dasha Listsina. Mixed and sound designed by Jeff Imptman, Story
(36:45):
editing by Joe Sikes, with original composition by Kyle Murdoch,
Recording engineer Tim McClain. Chapter artwork by A w A
Studios Kaleidoscope. The executive producers are Kate Osborne, Mengesh Hatikadur
(37:05):
Oz Volisian and Costas Linos from iHeart. The executive producers
are Ali Perry and Katrina NorVa. Social Media by Darra
Patts and Vahini Shormy. Special thanks to Tom Preston, Lizzie Jacobs,
Will Pearson, Carrie Lieberman, Nikki Etore, Bob Pittman, John Sykes,
(37:28):
Conno Byrne Sad Mussenni and the Mossenny Family, Matthew Anderson
and Axe Alonzo
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