My book review in the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age: AFGHANISTAN August in Kabul Andrew Quilty MUP, $34.99 Matthieu Aikins is a journalist who has spent extended periods in Afghanistan, including stints with The New York Times. Early this year, he told The Columbia Journalism Review that his whole profession had often failed when…
Showing all posts tagged war on terror
The never-ending gold rush in Afghanistan
My latest investigation is a joint piece for Declassified Australia and Declassified UK on the rush to exploit Afghan resources (mostly since 9/11): The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August last year has caused the country to implode. It was already on life support after more than 40 years of war but the swift removal…
ABC Radio National Big Ideas on Afghanistan and the Taliban
The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan receives far too little international media attention. Last night ABC Radio National Big Ideas program featured a discussion about the issues: The crisis in Afghanistan Six months after the withdrawal of Australian troops from Afghanistan, it is clear the embattled country is in the midst of a major humanitarian…
20 Years: The words that shaped the war in Afghanistan
As part of the Twenty Years project, a journalistic and artistic initiative with Afghans in Australia and around the world to assess the legacy of the US-led war in Afghanistan, we commissioned young, female, Afghan-Australian artists to make a short film on these themes. This is their statement: The fall of Kabul in 2021 was…
The Afghan war as a grifter’s paradise
What was the post 9/11 Afghan war really about? This great New York-based, award-winning podcast, News Beat, has produced a one-hour examination of this very question, melding journalism with hip-hip. I’m one of the guests talking about disaster capitalism in the war-torn nation.
Afghan artists, journalists and musicians on the never-ending war
The recent launch of the Twenty Years project, on decades of war in Afghanistan, included two major events with Afghan artists, journalists and musicians playing, speaking and considering the recent past and likely future with the Taliban back in charge. Night 1 on 7 October included: MC Afghan-Australian human rights lawyer Diana Sayed, London-based Afghan…
Twenty Years of the Afghan war
I’m excited to announce the launch of Twenty Years, a project more than two years in the making: Twenty Years is an artistic and journalistic project to assess the legacy of the post 9/11, US-led war in Afghanistan. Originally conceived in 2019 by journalist, author and film-maker Antony Loewenstein and artist Tia Kass alongside Afghans…
The dark legacy of the post 9/11 Afghan war
This year is the 20th anniversary of the post 9/11 Afghan war. I was recently asked to speak at an event organised by the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia. It was held during an exhibition of amazing Afghan/Australian artist Khadim Ali. In the Q&A, Khadim spoke along with a number of Afghans from…
US TV program Real News Network on Yemen, Libya and wars in the Middle East
I was interviewed this week by the US TV program the Real News Network on the “fog around UAE & Saudis in Yemen, how it’s connected to the chaos in Libya, the drone attacks, and wider chaos of the Middle East”:
The Nation interview on Afghan resources and peace prospects
US magazine The Nation recently published my investigation into the Afghan mining industry. I was interviewed about the story, and the ongoing peace talks between the US and Taliban, on the popular Nation podcast, Start Making Sense: