Quote:

"Where do you want to start?" —Farhad Azad

About:

Afghanistan has far too often been referred to as a place where countries go to die, it is a graveyard of empires.

This moniker has been cited so many times and for so long that it's unclear who first said it. Even the Afghan community will recite this pride. But what a title like this fails to convey is that while this might be a country responsible for the many tombstones of others, it very well is also a moratorium of progress for itself, a state in perpetual arrested development.

This is also a cemetery for countless Afghans who, in more modern times, failed to see any empire rise.

Why do some countries get to debate their histories while others have their legacy determined by outsiders? And what gets lost along the way?

This is Part II of a multi-part story on how history, current events, and culture all complicate the Afghan identity.

Show Notes:

[00:30] "The Layers of Heaven" by Jovica
[00:45] The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
[00:50] The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
[01:15] Re: Is it hard to have fun when you have a library card?
[01:20] More on Jamil Jan Kochai (@jamiljankochai)
1. Read his book, 99 Nights in Logar
2. Read his New Yorker story
[01:35] The renovation project on the West Sacramento Public Library
[02:35] Listen to Part 1 here
[02:50] A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
1. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
[03:10] Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini
[03:15] "Mirrored Seduction" by Walt Adams
[04:40] SparkNotes for The Kite Runner
[05:05] The Kite Runner movie trailer
[07:50] "Attan-Khatme Zanzeri"
1. s/o to the original "afghan-music.com"
[09:50] Books here:
1. Afghanistan: A Short History of Its People and Politics by Martin Ewans
2. The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Lemmon
3. Killing the Cranes: A Reporter's Journey through Three Decades of War in Afghanistan by Edward Girardet
4. Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia by Ahmed Rashid
5. Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War by Svetlana Alexievichy
6. Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Steve Cole
7. Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan by Doug Stanton
[11:55] "Walk Like an Egyptian" cover by The Cleverlys
[12:20] Light reading on Napoleon's conquest of Egypt
1. Related reading here
[12:35] French Suite No. 2 in C Minor
[13:20] Light reading on the late Edward Said
[13:30] A recent review of Orientalism by Edward Said
[13:45] "Choose Your Outfit" by Colors of Illusion
[14:10] Edward Said with the Media Education Foundation in 1998
[15:20] More on Farhad Azad and afghanmagazine.com
[16:10] "Over the Dunes" by Jon Sumner
[16:55] Light reading on Nader Shah
[17:10] Light reading on the Pashtuns
1. More on Pashtunwali
2. Light reading on Ahmad Shah Durrani
[20:05] "Portobello Road" by David Celeste
[20:30] More on Dr. Nivi Manchanda (@ManchandaNivi)
1. Her blog on the disorder of things
2. Her book, Imagining Afghanistan: the History and Politics of Imperial Knowledge
3. A Q&A on her book
[21:00] Light reading on the British East India Company
[21:10] Light reading on the geopolitical context of the 1800s
[21:50] An Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, and its Dependencies in Persia, Tartary, and India