Rahmatullah Amiri

I first met Rahmatullah Amiri as he was being wheeled into an operating theatre in Kabul one night in August 2016.A few hours earlier, Amiri was in an evening class at the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) when three gunmen stormed the compound after breaching the front gate with a car bomb. 13 students, teachers and security staff were killed in the attack. 49 others were injured, including Amiri, who was shot three times.Amiri survived the night and, after undergoing several surgeries, and completing his bachelor’s degree in political science and public administration from AUAF, has gone on to become one of the most sought after researchers and analysts on matters of the Taliban. If you’ve read a major, public report on the Taliban in recent years, chances are Amiri had something to do with it.Our conversation covers the nature of the Taliban’s relationship with al Qaeda and other international jihadist groups, the question of who the Taliban need to be negotiating with in order for a political settlement to be effective, the policies the group has and has not implemented, and how they’ve affected the Taliban’s appeal amongst the public. We talk about how the idea of Sharia law is broadly misinterpreted and used, both as a justification for the Taliban's own authoritarian policies and as a propaganda tool against it, about issues Amiri believes the Taliban need to reconsider their positions on, the tremendous losses suffered by rural communities since 2001, and how the Taliban are relentless in their fight, not because they want an end to air strikes and night raids, but because they want to honour the sacrifices made and simply because they want foreign forces gone. 

Om Podcasten

In February this year, the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement that charted a path to ending nearly two decades of war in Afghanistan. If all goes according to plan—and there is much to suggest it won’t—all foreign forces will depart in spring, 2021. Meanwhile, long-awaited intra-Afghan negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban are underway, once again in Doha.What will happen next? Will the Taliban uphold its side of the agreement with the U.S.? Will Trump even wait to find out? Will the Taliban concede to a ceasefire with the Afghan National Security Forces? And can President Ghani cling to power and steer the country toward peace? If the agreement fails, or indeed if it succeeds, how will history judge the United States for its role in Afghanistan? And what future will be left behind for Afghans who have variously thrived in, endured and raged against the well-intentioned occupation? As Afghanistan teeters, yet again, on a precipice between hope and despair, Afghanistan After America dissects the issues driving the decisions made in Washington D.C., Kabul, Doha and Quetta, and how they’re playing out on both sides of the battlefield, in the streets and inside homes, mosques and businesses across Afghanistan and beyond. Afghanistan After America draws from events of the past that continue to affect the present and explores Afghanistan’s rich and fraught history through some of those who’ve survived to tell their tales. Afghanistan After America is hosted by Andrew Quilty, an Australian journalist who has lived in Afghanistan since 2013 and reported from most of its provinces, collecting numerous accolades for his work along the way. Afghanistan After America is a place for conversations that go beyond the limits of mainstream media audiences. His guests are Afghans and outsiders from all walks of life with unique and confronting perspectives; they are leading analysts, thought-leaders, humanitarians, journalists, veterans and decision-makers from up and down the numerous tangled chains of command.