Welcome. We have an important guest today.

Obedla Bajir is a lecturer at the American University in Afghanistan, specializing in conflict resolution.

He is also the grandson of a Mujahideen fighter who went on to become an infamous warlord in Afghanistan.

Mr. Bajir received a Western education at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

At one point, he wanted to join the insurgency, but his father would not allow it.

His father was jailed at a CIA torture site and was released in 2008.

When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, his father went on television to praise the Taliban.

Mr. Bajir has decided to stay in Kabul, but has given help to many of his friends who were leaving

and has been there to help so many people who are trying to survive and thrive in Afghanistan today.

Mr. Bajir, thank you so much for being with me. I'm grateful.

Thank you for having me.

I was asking you before we came on the podcast if you had ever been to the United States

and you were telling me that there was a story there, so tell it to me now.

It's a two-part story. Initially, it's when your grandfather is on the blacklist

of the UN Security Council and the United States entry list.

The chances of you getting a visa are quite low, which is one of the reasons why when I was applying for my post-grad,

I chose Australia over the United States even though tough university was,

my university was really eyeing for, but the other funny bit is how my dwindling prospects

of ever coming to the United States were furthered by a misquote of an interview I gave on Sky News,

in which they asked me what I felt about Biden's recent remarks about Afghanistan.

And I said that Biden's remarks felt like a punch in the gut after which the person who's punched you

tells you about all the nice things they did to you after punching you in the gut,

...