Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018

For nearly two decades, U.S. government officials crafted a careful story of progress to justify their ongoing military campaign in Afghanistan. Newly disclosed documents reveal to what extent that story was not the reality of the war. Today, one former Marine speaks about the missteps the government concealed for years. Guest: Thomas Gibbons-Neff, a reporter in The New York Times Washington bureau and a former Marine infantryman and Eric Schmitt, who covers terrorism and national security for The New York Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Background reading:Afghans have endured four decades of conflict, with little prospect of peace. This is the story of the last 18 years since the American invasion, as told by the men and women who’ve lived it.“We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan — we didn’t know what we were doing,” one retired three-star Army general said in hundreds of classified memos obtained by The Washington Post.Here are our key takeaways from the declassified documents. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

16 Dec 201926min

As the House Judiciary Committee pushed toward a historic vote to send two articles of impeachment to the full House, lawmakers made their final appeals to the other side. Democrats implored committee members to vote with their conscience and put country over party. Republicans, in turn, asked for the exact same thing.“The Latest” is a series on the impeachment inquiry, from the team behind “The Daily.” You can find more information about it here. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

13 Dec 20194min

In Part 3 of our series on pivotal moments in the lives of the 2020 Democratic presidential contenders, we spoke with Elizabeth Warren about how she came to be known as the blow-it-up candidate. With help from Andrew Ross Sorkin, a financial columnist at The Times and founder of DealBook, Harry Reid, a former Senate majority leader, and David Axelrod, a former Obama adviser, we explore Ms. Warren’s rise to prominence as an advocate for overhauling the financial system — and how that rise helps us understand her run for president now. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Background reading:The New York Times Magazine spoke to Ms. Warren in June, discussing the double standards that can confront professional women — and female presidential candidates.Ms. Warren has lots of plans. Together, they would remake the economy.We asked 21 candidates the same 18 questions. Hear Ms. Warren’s answers. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

13 Dec 201945min

Britain is voting in a general election today. During his re-election campaign, Prime Minister Boris Johnson hitched his re-election campaign to a promise to “get Brexit done” — while selling bankers and blue-collar workers two very different visions for the country. Some hope his promise will mean restoring the United Kingdom to its past glory. But what does it actually mean? Guest: Mark Landler, London bureau chief of The New York Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Background reading:There is growing anxiety among some voters that the prime minister’s vow to complete Brexit could undermine the country’s national health service, a key social safety net. The service is at the center of an election scandal in the final days of the campaign.As Britain prepared for the election, a Times reporter spent two weeks driving from London to Glasgow. He found a country united only by its disunity.With agitations for secession in Scotland and Northern Ireland, our chief correspondent asks: Could completing Brexit spell the end of the United Kingdom as we know it? Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

12 Dec 201923min

House Democratic leaders have introduced two articles of impeachment against President Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. But they did not include obstruction of justice. In today’s episode, we delve into the unseen fight among Democrats over whether two articles of impeachment was enough. Guest: Nicholas Fandos, who covers Congress for The New York Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Background reading:In the draft articles, House Democrats claim that Mr. Trump used as leverage against Ukraine two “official acts”: the delivery of $391 million in security assistance and a White House meeting for Ukraine’s president.Here are key takeaways from yesterday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

11 Dec 201922min

A trove of private government documents offers an unprecedented look inside China’s highly organized crackdown on Uighur Muslims — revealing Beijing’s systematic detention of as many as one million people in camps and prisons over the past three years. In one speech, China’s president ordered his subordinates to show prisoners in Xinjiang “absolutely no mercy.” Guest: Paul Mozur, a technology reporter for The New York Times based in Shanghai. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Background reading:In one of the biggest leaks of the last half-century, The Times obtained more than 400 pages of internal documents revealing the meticulous planning that has gone into the Chinese government’s crackdown on ethnic minorities.Yesterday we followed our correspondent into the heart of Xinjiang, where one woman risked her life to talk about her experience in China’s system of torture and surveillance. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

10 Dec 201923min

To mention the Mueller report in articles of impeachment against President Trump, or not? That’s the question Democrats have been asking. Today’s impeachment hearing before the House Judiciary Committee gave us a clue about which way they’re leaning.“The Latest” is a series on the impeachment inquiry, from the team behind “The Daily.” You can find more information about it here. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

10 Dec 20195min

A last-minute booking, a furtive cab ride and a spy in the window. For the past year, Paul Mozur has been investigating the story of a son determined to free his mother from a repressive system of detention and surveillance in western China. In doing so, he found a crack in China’s surveillance state — and a mother on her deathbed in Xinjiang.Today, we hear from the man’s mother for the first time. Guest: Paul Mozur, a technology reporter for The New York Times based in Shanghai, spoke with Ferkat Jawdat, a Uighur who is an American citizen and lives in Virginia, and his mother in Xinjiang, China. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Background reading:The Chinese authorities are using a vast secret system of facial recognition technology to control the Uighurs, a largely Muslim minority in western China. The government may also be taking citizens’ DNA without consent to enhance the system.“We must be as harsh as them, and show absolutely no mercy.” Leaked documents reveal how the Chinese authorities orchestrated the crackdown on one million or more ethnic Uighurs.If you missed our previous interviews with Mr. Jawdat, here are Part 1 and Part 2. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

9 Dec 201931min