Inside Kabul Ep. 1 - August: stay or go?

July 17, 2024·32 min·2 clips

In airplane mode above Afghanistan, Marwa narrates leaving her father, her brother and her country behind.

A call comes at 3.30 a.m. Marwa's husband says they have been asked to move to Mazar city, and there is almost no time to pack. She wants to bring memory, not only paperwork. A diary from her little sister and an instant camera from her elder brother matter, but the bag decides. It is not even a suitcase. After Marwa sends a picture, the narration corrects it: a rucksack. She takes two outfits, two books, her passport, her marriage certificate, and her computer, because maybe evacuation still leaves room for work. Outside, nothing is settled. Car, bus, camp, delay. Any of it could happen. The hotel is packed with more than 200 people, and Marwa records the corridor because the noise says plenty. She cannot safely go out. She does not know whether evacuation means tonight, this week, or later. Small details get bigger. Electrical sockets matter because a charged phone keeps her tied to her father and brother, her family in the US, and Raha. Arshi explains how the Radio France series reaches Canadaland in English translation. Raha enters beside Marwa, and their voice notes turn into a record of young women growing up while Afghanistan changes around them.

As heard by us

A quiet portrait of two lives split by the Taliban's return to power.

Inside Kabul traces two young women as their paths divide when the Taliban return to power in Afghanistan: Raha remains in Kabul and meets the new regime head-on, while Marwa leaves and becomes stranded in Abu Dhabi. The piece works because it stays close to them.

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Why you'd press play

A raw, intimate first episode of Inside Kabul, built from voice notes after the Taliban's return.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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