How Little America was built in Afghanistan

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 March 2019

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the 1950s, US engineers were sent to Afghanistan to build a huge dam.

The aim was to irrigate the deserts of Helmand.

The town of Lashkar Gah was built to house the workers.

Photo: Lashkar Gah from the air, 1957.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless
0:06.8	searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the
0:11.8	telly we share what we've been watching
0:14.0	Cladie Aide.
0:16.0	Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.
0:19.0	Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.
0:21.0	And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less
0:24.9	searching and a lot more watching listen on BBC sounds. Choosing what to
0:32.1	watch night after night the flicking through the endless
0:36.5	searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the
0:41.5	telly we share what we've been watching.
0:43.7	Cladie Aide!
0:45.7	Loads of games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.
0:48.2	Lovely.
0:49.0	Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.
0:51.2	And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less
0:54.7	searching and a lot more watching listen on BBC sounds.
0:58.9	You're listening to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Tim
1:08.8	Mansell. And today I'm taking you back to the 1950s when America and Afghanistan were close allies.
1:16.6	To such an extent that one newly built Afghan town became known as Little America. This program was first broadcast in 2012.
1:27.0	It's the mid-1950s and nine-year-old Tamim Ansari has just moved from the bustling Afghan capital
1:37.5	Kabul to the small half-built town of Laskur-Garr on the banks of the Helmand River. centuries before this desert region was home to an ancient
	...

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