No Way Home, Episode Two: The Desert of Death
The Intercept Briefing
The Intercept
4.8 • 6.3K Ratings
🗓️ 14 September 2022
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As the Taliban claimed territory last summer, Mir Abdullah Miri and his cousin Aziz both planned to flee their homes in Herat, a city in western Afghanistan. Mir, an educational researcher, made it to the Afghan capital and tried to get on a flight, while Aziz, a cellphone programmer, decided to cross into Iran on foot with his wife and two young children, hoping to reach relatives in Germany. After Aziz and his family set off through Afghanistan’s southern desert, Mir was left to untangle the mystery of what really happened to them in that desolate wilderness, where thousands of Afghans have risked their lives in search of a way out.
Created by Afghans forced into exile when the Taliban took over last year, “No Way Home” tells of the perilous exodus born of two decades of broken promises in the U.S. war on terror. Through the stories of four Afghans who tried to leave when the U.S. military pulled out of Afghanistan last summer, these Afghan storytellers use their own experiences of departure, loss, and resilience to illuminate the dark end of America’s longest war. A production of The Intercept and New America, “No Way Home” is a four-part series available on the Intercepted podcast.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A quick warning, this episode includes descriptions of a traumatic experience. |
| 0:07.0 | Please listen at your discretion. |
| 0:10.0 | I couldn't walk. |
| 0:20.5 | My toenails were completely ripped off. |
| 0:23.5 | All my toenails were turned off on the way I felt it myself. |
| 0:28.0 | I couldn't sit down to take off my shoes but I could feel that my toenails were coming off. |
| 0:33.5 | I had to take care of my children. |
| 0:35.6 | I had fallen in several places and my eyes were closed. |
| 0:39.7 | All I could hear was my daughter and son crying. |
| 0:43.7 | When the Taliban seized Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, |
| 0:48.2 | Leyla's husband Aziz quickly started planning the family's exit from the country. |
| 0:55.8 | Their attempt to leave would irreversibly change their lives and mine. |
| 1:00.8 | I don't know who had given me water. |
| 1:05.8 | It was a stranger. |
| 1:08.4 | One of them offered to carry my daughter but I didn't trust them. |
| 1:13.0 | I was worried he might take my daughter and run away or something. |
| 1:23.9 | This is no way home, a production of the intercept and new America. |
| 1:29.6 | In this poor part series, you will hear stories that were found, developed and reported |
| 1:35.9 | by Afghans like me who have been forced into exile. |
| 1:40.9 | Our stories reflect what we saw with our own eyes and what we and our families have experienced |
| 1:47.0 | first hand since the US military pulled out, the Afghan government collapsed, and the |
| 1:53.4 | Taliban took over last summer. |
... |
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