Un-embedding Western narratives about Afghanistan

One way to cover war is to follow the road offered by the dominant army. In Afghanistan, that often meant journalists were embedded with U.S. or NATO troops, and saw the war and the world around it through their eyes.

Guest Bette Dam is a Dutch journalist who covered the war in Afghanistan for 15 years. She began her coverage in 2006, embedded with the Dutch troops fighting there. She’s the author of two books: Looking for the Enemy, Mullah Omar and the Unknown Taliban, and A Man in a Motorcycle, How Hamid Karzai Came to Power. Dam also teaches a class called "Unlearning Afghanistan" at Sciences Po in Paris, and is working on a PhD at the Vrije Universiteit in Brussels on the role of media in conflict.

In the course of her reporting Dam realized that most Western journalists were providing a distorted view of the war. It left out the perspective of the Afghan people, and made the country appear more dangerous than it really was. And Dam says the press missed opportunities to hold the U.S. and NATO to account for major blunders – including overlooking the fact that the Taliban surrendered in December 2001.

More than 2,000 have died and over 9,000 have been injured in an earthquake that hit western Afghanistan on Saturday, October 7. Dam is partnering with Sense of Humanity and Learn Afghanistan to raise funds for medical aid, food and shelter. Help provide medical aid, food and shelter by donating here.

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Making Peace Visible is produced by Andrea Muraskin and hosted by Jamil Simon. Faith McClure writes our newsletter and designs our website. Creative direction by Peter Agoos. Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Zero V, and Doyeq.

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