Jeremy Scahill, author of Dirty Wars, interviewed by Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman & Juan González

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Afghanistan Topics

Democracy Now! has regularly covered the Afghanistan War since it was launched Oct. 7, 2001. Over the years, we have interviewed dozens of independent journalists, civilians living in the conflict zones, scholars, veterans, and antiwar activists.

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  • Enemy Combatant: Moazzam Begg on his Imprisonment at Guantanamo, Bagram, and Kandahar

    In February 2002, the British-born Moazzam Begg was seized by the CIA in Islamabad. No reasons were given for his arrest. He was hooded, shackled and cuffed and flown to the U.S. detention facility at Kandahar, then to Bagram airbase where he was held for approximately a year before being transferred to Guantanamo. The U.S. government labeled him an "enemy combatant." He was never charged with a crime. In all, Moazzam spent three years...
    Jul 31, 2006 | Story

  • The One Percent Doctrine: Journalist Ron Suskind on the Deliberate U.S. Bombing of Al Jazeera, Losing Bin Laden and More

    Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind joins us to discuss his new book, "The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America’s Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11." In it, Suskind writes that that the U.S deliberately bombed the Kabul, Afghanistan offices of Al Jazeera in 2001. [includes rush transcript]
    Jul 14, 2006 | Story

  • Rice Praises "Democratic Future of Afghanistan" As Fierce Fighting Continues in one of Bloodiest Months Since 2001 U.S. Invasion

    Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Afghanistan today for talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Her visit comes during one of the bloodiest months in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001–over the past few weeks more than five hundred people have been killed. We speak with The Nation correspondent Christian Parenti interviewed Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and we go to Islamabad to speak Pakistani journalist and...
    Jun 28, 2006 | Story

  • Bloodshed in Afghanistan as U.S. Launches Largest Military Offensive Since 2001

    In Afghanistan, US forces have launched their largest military offensive since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. More than ten thousand coalition troops are spreading out across southern Afghanistan to fight the Taliban. We go to Kandahar to speak with Declan Walsh of the London Guardian. [includes rush transcript]
    Jun 20, 2006 | Story

  • Afghanistan in Turmoil: 330+ Killed in One Week, U.S. Bombing Raids Continue, Taliban Seizing Control in Southern Region

    In Afghanistan, more than 330 people have died over the past week in some of the heaviest fighting since the war began almost five years ago. Taliban have moved out of the mountains and seized large areas in the south. We speak with an Afghan human rights activist who was forced to flee the country because of his work documenting human rights abuses committed by U.S. forces. [includes rush transcript]
    May 25, 2006 | Story

  • "Worse" Than Guantanamo: U.S. Expands Secretive Prison Inside Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan

    The U.S. is holding 500 at the base in wire cages at the Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul in Afghanistan. Some have been detained for up to three years. They have never been charged with crimes. They have no access to lawyers. They are barred from hearing the allegations against them. Officials describe the jail’s conditions as primitive. We speak with human rights attorneys Clive Stafford Smith and Michael Ratner. [includes rush transcript]
    Feb 27, 2006 | Story

  • Professor McCoy Exposes the History of CIA Interrogation, From the Cold War to the War on Terror

    We now take a look at what lies behind the shocking images of torture at Abu Ghraib prison by turning to the history of the CIA and torture techniques. Professor Alfred McCoy talks about his book "A Question of Torture", a startling expose of the CIA development of psychological torture from the Cold War to Abu Ghraib. CIA mercenaries attempted to assassinate McCoy more than 30 years ago. [includes rush transcript]
    Feb 17, 2006 | Story

  • Afghan President Heads to Washington Amid New Reports Of U.S. Abuse In Afghanistan

    On Monday President Bush met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Washington on Monday just days after the New York Times revealed that U.S. troops tortured and killed Afghan detainees at the Bagram airbase. We speak with John Sifton from Human Rights Watch. [includes rush transcript]
    May 24, 2005 | Story

  • Bearing Witness: War Correspondent Janine di Giovanni On Reporting From the Battleground

    "In the 1990s, a series of violent wars kept coming, like wave after brutal wave," says di Giovanni. "I was part of an elite, tight band of international reporters — a tribe, really — who roamed the earth, working from front lines or cities under siege. In those days, we rarely wore flak jackets. But we believed in the stories we were reporting, in the importance of bearing witnesses to evil regimes, to ethnic cleansing,...
    May 23, 2005 | Story

  • Washington Retains Strong Ties With Uzbekistan Despite Notorious Human Rights Record

    Uzbek President Islam Karimov has rejected calls for an international inquiry into a bloody crackdown on protesters in the town of Andijan last week that left up to 750 dead. Washington has close links with Uzbekistan despite the country’s notorious human rights record. We speak with a researcher with Human Rights Watch, the editorial director of Antiwar.com and we go to Andijan to get a report from the ground. [includes rush transcript]
    May 20, 2005 | Story