You are listening to Code Switch from MPR, I'm Gene Dempsey.

In October 2001, so just about 20 years ago, the US invaded Afghanistan and

response to the attacks of September 11. That became the longest war in the history of the

United States, and it's been going on for so long, for so long, that this war, which has killed

so many Afghan people and so many US military personnel, it just fell out of the news cycle.

But when Afghanistan did make the news, when it did creep into our field of vision,

it was mostly as a country defined by this ongoing military occupation and by the violence there.

But that's not the full story, that's not even close.

Afghanistan has a long, rich, complex history and culture, and a lot of that flies in the face

of what those of us in the US are exposed to. Or, you know, it's in direct opposition to the

stereotypes that we do see portrayed. So this week, we're sharing an episode from our play

cousins run dubbed a fahta and romteen our blueie at throughline. They spent some time

unspooling the history of Afghanistan. It's art, it's culture, and the people who make all that.

And they use the stories that Afghans have told about themselves through the ages to do so.

All this world is like a tale we hear, men's evil and their glory disappear.

Long, long ago, at the center of the world, a tale was written of a father and a son.

They were called Rustam and Sahrab.

Give ear onto the combat of Sahrab against Rustam, though it would be a tale replete with tears.

Rustam was a great warrior, lauded by kings, feared by many. And on his travels, he met a

beautiful woman, a princess from another kingdom, while looking for his horse who had run off.

The princess told him if he helped her bear a child, she would return his horse to him.

He agreed and Rustam prepared to leave. But before going, he gave her a beautiful jewel and said,

...