S02 - Ep. 2: The Golden Chicken

Serial - Serial S02 - Ep. 1: DUSTWUN

In the middle of the night, Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl grabs\xa0a notebook, snacks, water, some cash. Then he quietly slips off a remote U.S. Army outpost in eastern Afghanistan\xa0and into the dark, open desert. About 20 minutes later, it occurs to him: he’s in over his head.

Serial S02 - Ep. 1: DUSTWUN

About a year and a half ago, clips from this video appeared on every major news broadcast.

It showed the rescue of a guy named Bo Bergdahl.

He was the US soldier who was captured by the Taliban and held captive for just shy of five years.

The first thing you see is a couple of guys in traditional Afghan clothes.

They've got scarves on their heads or covering their faces and they're holding machine guns.

They're standing next to a silver pickup truck.

The front hood is up. In the back seat of the truck, the door is open.

A bare-headed figure is sitting with his knees up against the seat in front of him.

The camera closes in and you see this pale young man.

He looks sort of like a cult leader from a 70s movie.

He can't keep his eyes open properly. They're bothering him.

A wider shot shows that the scrubby rocky hills all around the truck are dotted with other guys,

Taliban, holding rifles or rocket propelled their needs.

One or two of the guys lean into where Bergdahl is sitting and they're talking to him.

One guy says something in Pashto, which is translated on screen as,

But I've heard since is that the guy said,

do not come back to Afghanistan. You will not get out alive.

Serial returns with a history of Guantánamo told by people who lived through key moments in Guantánamo’s evolution, who know things the rest of us don’t about what it’s like to be caught inside an improvised justice system.

Serial Productions makes narrative podcasts whose quality and innovation transformed the medium. “Serial” began in 2014 as a spinoff of the public radio show “This American Life.” In 2020, we joined the New York Times Company. Our shows have reached many millions of listeners and have won nearly every major journalism award for audio, including the first-ever Peabody Award given to a podcast.

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0:00.0	About a year and a half ago, clips from this video appeared on every major news broadcast.
0:06.8	It showed the rescue of a guy named Bo Bergdahl.
0:09.7	He was the US soldier who was captured by the Taliban and held captive for just shy of five years.
0:15.7	The Taliban made the video.
0:18.0	The first thing you see is a couple of guys in traditional Afghan clothes.
0:21.4	They've got scarves on their heads or covering their faces and they're holding machine guns.
0:27.1	They're standing next to a silver pickup truck.
0:29.6	The front hood is up. In the back seat of the truck, the door is open.
0:34.0	A bare-headed figure is sitting with his knees up against the seat in front of him.
0:37.9	The camera closes in and you see this pale young man.
0:41.3	And that's Bergdahl. His head is shaved.
0:44.1	He looks sort of like a cult leader from a 70s movie.
0:47.5	He can't keep his eyes open properly. They're bothering him.
0:50.6	He keeps blinking and rubbing them.
0:53.0	A wider shot shows that the scrubby rocky hills all around the truck are dotted with other guys,
0:57.6	Taliban, holding rifles or rocket propelled their needs.
1:04.1	One or two of the guys lean into where Bergdahl is sitting and they're talking to him.
1:08.0	He's looking at their faces.
1:09.7	One guy says something in Pashto, which is translated on screen as,
1:13.4	don't come back to Afghanistan.
1:17.1	But I've heard since is that the guy said,
1:19.1	do not come back to Afghanistan. You will not get out alive.
	...

Serial S02 - Ep. 1: DUSTWUN

Serial

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