American Journalist Kidnapped By The Taliban
Episode description
Over his career as a journalist, reporting from mainly Afghanistan and Pakistan, Jere Van Dyk has worked for the New York Times and CBS News and has appeared widely as a commentator on international affairs. His also the author of several books.
In 2008 Jere was captured and held by the Taliban, an experience that he wrote about in his fascinating book Captive, which received a Foreign Press Award in 2022.
He is with us today to talk about his long experience in Afghanistan that began with a trip he made as a young man. He recounts the friendship he developed with both Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin Haqqani, leaders of the famed Haqqani network; (allies of the United States during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan of the 1980s and later some of our fiercest enemies) the significance of the Durand line drawn by the British in 1893; and how all this relates to the current rise of Muslim nationalism.
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Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com