National Security Adviser of Afghanistan - Hamdullah Mohib
Afghans will have to wait until next month to get the results of last Sunday’s parliamentary election – but in one sense the verdict is already in; the ballot again exposed widespread insecurity and the absence of government control in many parts of the country. Stephen Sackur speaks to President Ashraf Ghani’s recently appointed National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib. Has the US Government decided to engage with the Taliban regardless of the wishes of the Afghan Government?(Photo: Afghanistan's National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib (Centre). Credit: Atta Kenare/AFP)
26 Okt 201823min
Minister of State, UK Foreign Office - Alan Duncan MP
Turkey’s President Erdogan says the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was a savage crime meticulously planned in Riyadh. He wants all those responsible to stand trial in Turkey. As the pressure on the house of Saud mounts, will the kingdom’s partners in the West take punitive action? Stephen Sackur speaks to Alan Duncan, Minister of State in the UK Foreign Office. Has the time come for Britain to stop lucrative arms exports to Saudi Arabia?(Photo: Alan Duncan MP in the Hardtalk studio)
24 Okt 201823min
Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah
What gives each of us our sense of who we are? At the most personal level we all have our own family background. In the most general sense we are, all of us, part of the human species. But it’s the stuff in between that puts us in groups or tribes and often motivates our behaviour. Gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality- these are the persistent fault lines that seem to separate us from them. Stephen Sackur speaks to Kwame Antony Appiah, an academic and public intellectual who says we need to rethink identity to escape the myths of the past. But how?Image: Kwame Anthony Appiah (Credit: Getty Images)
22 Okt 201824min
Malawi's Vice President - Saulos Chilima
HARDtalk’s Zeinab Badawi speaks to Vice President of the small southern African state of Malawi, Saulos Chilima- a former business executive turned politician. Mr. Chilima was President Mutharika’s running mate in elections in 2014. Now he has left the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and says he will run against him in presidential elections next year to - as he put it - ‘save the country from destruction and corruption’. Why is he criticising a government of which he still is a member? And if corruption is really as bad as he describes, why didn’t the Vice-President use his influence to stop the rot?Image: Saulos Chilima (Credit: AFP/Getty Images)
19 Okt 201823min
Vice President of European Parliament, Mairead McGuinness
The Brexit endgame is underway. This is the week the UK Government and the European Union earmarked for agreeing a deal on the divorce and outlining a future relations. But on the eve of another EU summit, there is still talk of an impasse- focusing on the Irish border and Northern Ireland’s status after Brexit. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Mairead McGuinness, an Irish MEP and vice president of the European parliament. Is Brexit about to get very messy and very costly?Image: Mairead McGuinness (Credit: Getty Images)
17 Okt 201823min
Professor at Columbia Law School - Kimberlé Crenshaw
The United States of America is a republic divided. The Trump presidency has exposed fissures that run along lines of race, gender, education, and culture. In next month’s mid-term elections the fight for political power will be between the two traditional parties, Republican and Democrat, but perhaps a different sort of activism is needed to deliver real change? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Kimberlé Crenshaw - a professor of law, a social activist and influential advocate of the idea of intersectionality. Is it the group, not the individual that matters most in today’s America?Image: Kimberlé Crenshaw (Credit: Getty Images)
12 Okt 201823min
Is Saudi Arabia Heading Down a Dangerous Path?
The Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week. Amid a welter of speculation and lurid allegations, a cloud of suspicion now hangs over the Saudi Government. The record of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, the Kingdom’s de facto ruler, suggests a determination to silence all criticism. Stephen Sackur speaks to Saudi academic Madawi al-Rasheed and former senior US diplomat, Nicholas Burns. Is ‘MBS’ taking his kingdom down a dangerous path?(Photo: Saudi academic Madawi al-Rasheed)
12 Okt 201823min
Imam of Mariam Mosque in Copenhagen - Sherin Khankan
Almost two billion of the world’s people are Muslim, and yet half of them, the female half, have traditionally played little or no role in the institutions of their faith. That is changing, albeit very slowly. Stephen Sackur speaks to Sherin Khankan who became Scandinavia’s first female Imam when she opened the Mariam mosque in Copenhagen. Her focus on women’s rights in a 21st Century brand of Islamic practice has stirred controversy and debate far beyond Denmark’s borders. Is Islam ready to empower women?(Photo: Sherin Khankan. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)
10 Okt 201823min
