How Fremont Became Known As 'Little Kabul'

Bay Curious

KQED

Places & Travel, History, Society & Culture

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Over the past 40 years, Afghans have steadily immigrated to the East Bay town of Fremont, hoping to start new lives close to others who share their language and culture. We trace four waves of immigration and check in with Afghans who've chosen to settle in Fremont. Additional Resources: How Did Fremont Become Known As 'Little Kabul'? Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Asal Ehsanipour. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Gabriela Glueck and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Olivia Allen-Price, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsay and everyone on Team KQED.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From KQED.
0:02.0	Fremont is the fourth largest town in the Bay Area, but it doesn't always get the love it deserves.
0:09.0	It's a quiet place, but has a thriving tech industry, an incredibly diverse population, and played an important role in the early silent film industry.
0:18.0	It's also home to one of the largest Afghan populations in the country,
0:22.1	a fact that often shows up in pop culture. Do you live in Fremont? Are you also from Afghanistan?
0:31.5	Yes, I am. On the special immigration visa? Yes, I was a translator in Afghanistan.
0:38.7	That's a clip from the 23 indie film, Fremont,
0:42.0	about a military translator starting over in Fremont
0:44.7	after being forced to leave Afghanistan.
0:47.2	It's a premise rooted in reality.
0:49.9	Over the past 40-some years,
0:51.4	Fremont's Afghans have slowly built a cultural hub here.
0:54.8	There's even a business district known as Little Kabul.
0:58.3	That name, Little Kabul, sparked the interest of one Bay Curious listener
1:02.1	who wanted to know more about how Fremont became home to so many Afghans.
1:09.6	Today on Bay Curious, we're tracing four distinct waves of Afghan immigration to the U.S.
1:15.5	And illuminating how 40 years of U.S. foreign policy has led us to this point.
1:21.0	We'll meet Afghan refugees who've settled here, learn what makes this community unique,
1:26.1	and dig into some of the challenges they face.
1:28.7	I'm Katrina Schwartz, filling in for Olivia Allen Price. Stay with us.
1:36.9	Support for Bay Curious comes from Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. From the legendary pale ale to
1:42.8	hazy little thing, it's beer that always lives up to the
	...

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