SELECTED RADIO STORIES ON THE AFGHANISTAN WAR BY DOUGLAS WISSING
“Radio War”
The Taliban has long used tiny radio transmitters small enough to transport on a donkey to broadcast their jihadist message. The US is belatedly launching a counterpropaganda campaign to combat the Taliban DJs. It’s the sounds of jihadist radio personalities and Afghan music commingled with interviews with US military officers, State Dept. officials and Afghan government disc jockeys.
Listen to the story at BBC’s “PRI The World”
“Honey and Saffron are Weapons in Afghanistan”
In classic counterinsurgency strategy, development teams are as important as combat troops. The combat-ready Agricultural Development Teams are laboring to bring better lives to Afghan farmers in some of the embattled country’s most violent provinces. The soundscape of the Afghanistan War.
Listen to the story at Voice of America News
“Traditional Afghan Farming Gets Modern Twist”
Afghanistan’s Minister of Afghanistan is partnering with Purdue University to help modernize Afghan agriculture. One of the Afghan government’s leading figures talks about the challenges.
Listen to the story at Voice of America News
“Cultivating Afghanistan”
The 25-part radio series recorded in Afghanistan’s most violent province covers issues such as sustainable development, corruption, interagency conflict, failed governance, and Taliban funding, as well as the harrowing prices US soldiers pay, including post-traumatic stress disorder, combat injuries including mild brain trauma, and family challenges. It is the sounds of Americans at war in a faraway place.
Listen to the stories at Indiana Public Media