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Speaker 1: Hello and welcome if you're watching in the UK or

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Speaker 1: around the world.

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Speaker 2: On the morning of August fifteenth, twenty twenty one, journalist

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Speaker 2: Yaoda Hakim is reporting live from her news desk in London.

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Speaker 1: The again Presidential Palace has tweeted that gunshots have been

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Speaker 1: heard at a number of points around Koble.

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Speaker 2: So what's odd is that today almost every single news

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Speaker 2: channel across the globe is covering the same story. The

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Speaker 2: situation on the ground is changing fast hour to hour.

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Speaker 3: It has intensified over the past couple of hours.

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Speaker 4: Taliban now bolds all of Ghanistan's border crossings amidst the

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Speaker 4: offense across the country.

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Speaker 2: Yalder's own family fled Afghanistan when she was just six

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Speaker 2: months old, traveling by horseback, and though she built a

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Speaker 2: new life as a journalist in Australia and London, she's

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Speaker 2: made an effort to stay close to her home country,

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Speaker 2: returning to do war reporting and breaking news. And then

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Speaker 2: when Yalder is live on air mid interview, she looks down.

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Speaker 2: Her phone is ringing in front of her.

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Speaker 1: And it says, Sir hel Shaheen on it, you know

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Speaker 1: a Taliban spokesperson.

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Speaker 2: She can't let it go to voicemail, so she cuts

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Speaker 2: off her interview.

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Speaker 1: It's going to interrupt you, and I pressed the green button. Okay,

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Speaker 1: We've just got spokesperson of the Taliban, so Hel Shahin

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Speaker 1: on the line.

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Speaker 5: Mister Shaheen, can you hear me?

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Speaker 2: Her colleagues are staring at her from behind the camera

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Speaker 2: trying to figure out why is she answering a call

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Speaker 2: while she's live on television.

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Speaker 1: Okay, I'm just just We've just got put the speaker

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Speaker 1: on and I sort of said, you know, mister Shaheen,

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Speaker 1: can you hear us?

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Speaker 5: Can you hear us? And he was sort of saying,

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Speaker 5: yes I can, mister Shahin.

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Speaker 6: There is a lot of chaos and confusion in Karbal

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Speaker 6: at the moment. Can you just help us understand what

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Speaker 6: the Taliban plan to do at present and next.

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Speaker 7: Yes, it should not be any confusion.

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Speaker 1: He was telling me what their plans were and what

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Speaker 1: they were doing, and their slogan was this time it's

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Speaker 1: going to be different.

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Speaker 5: We're not going to do the things that we said.

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Speaker 1: Women will be educated, girls can get an education, women

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Speaker 1: can work. We will ensure that we are not isolated

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Speaker 1: from the international community. You will ensure that within the

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Speaker 1: framework of Islam, people have their.

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Speaker 8: Rights, a peaceful trans our power.

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Speaker 5: This was, you know, a Taliban two point zero.

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Speaker 2: Taliban two point zero, a new era, But what would

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Speaker 2: that mean for ordinary Afghans. I'm John Legend and from Kaleidoscope,

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Speaker 2: and iHeart this is Afghan Star. Previously, a woman wins

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Speaker 2: the show for the very first time.

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Speaker 9: I think I screamed when I heard her name, and

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Speaker 9: I just held her in my arms and I gave

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Speaker 9: her a tight hat.

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Speaker 2: And Afghanistan's biggest pop star, Arianna said is forced to flee.

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Speaker 9: I guess it was the most glamorous running for your

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Speaker 9: life ever.

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Speaker 2: Chapter one, Last Man Standing. On August fifteenth, twenty twenty one,

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Speaker 2: Arianna Sayid was sitting in hair and makeup when she

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Speaker 2: finally admitted it was time to run. Like so many others,

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Speaker 2: she had been holding out hope, believing the Taliban surge

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Speaker 2: could be kept at bay, but the Taliban forces had

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Speaker 2: stormed Cobble with ease, and now they were closing in

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Speaker 2: on their targets. Ariana wasn't the only one trying to escape.

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Speaker 9: Thousands and thousands of people were basically piled up on

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Speaker 9: each other, trying to get inside the airport. There was

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Speaker 9: actually no air, no oxygen, and thousands of people stuck

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Speaker 9: to each other.

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Speaker 2: Everyone was desperate to get on this one American plane.

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Speaker 9: My fiance went first, and then he reached the gates

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Speaker 9: spoke to one of the US soldiers, and the US

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Speaker 9: soldiers didn't care. He said he didn't believe his story.

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Speaker 2: Ariana's fiance was pleading, trying to communicate that Ariana is

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Speaker 2: a singer, she's a famous singer, and that she's in

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Speaker 2: direct danger right.

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Speaker 9: Now, and then we needed to, you know, be helped.

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Speaker 9: And he had said, oh, US citizens only, and my

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Speaker 9: fiance started shouting at the soldier.

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Speaker 2: You have to let us in, you have to please,

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Speaker 2: But the US soldier was unmoved. After all, they weren't

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Speaker 2: the only ones begging. There was a sea of desperate

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Speaker 2: people all trying to bore.

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Speaker 9: But then this Afghan translator recognized my fiance's voice, and

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Speaker 9: then he had told the soldier that he actually is

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Speaker 9: telling the truth, that his wife is a singer and

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Speaker 9: they're in danger. So they led us through. Me and

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Speaker 9: my fiance were the last two passengers that got into

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Speaker 9: that plane. There was probably, i don't know, maybe five

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Speaker 9: to seven hundred people sitting on that plane, next to

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Speaker 9: each other on the floor. Of course, I was very

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Speaker 9: relieved and pleased and grateful to God that he had

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Speaker 9: given me another chance. But I was numb by what

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Speaker 9: had happened in Afghanistan, and my heart was bleeding for

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Speaker 9: the people who were left behind, and I just just

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Speaker 9: couldn't stop crying.

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Speaker 2: You probably remember seeing scenes like this on the news,

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Speaker 2: the chaos outside Kabo Airport, the throngs of people fighting

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Speaker 2: to get on a flight, the people who are so

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Speaker 2: desperate to leave they climbed onto the wings of the aircraft,

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Speaker 2: clinging for their lives, only to drop to their deaths

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Speaker 2: from a few hundred feet in the air. I remember watching,

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Speaker 2: glued to my TV screen, just feeling the hopelessness of

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Speaker 2: it all.

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Speaker 10: As the Taliban celebrate. The mood on the streets of

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Speaker 10: Kabble is tense. Those who can escape are making a

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Speaker 10: run for the airport. Others here seem resigned to a

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Speaker 10: return to Taliban Mould you face an unknown future? What

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Speaker 10: will happen if the Taliban come? Will you stay in Kabble?

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Speaker 7: Of course we said it is on a.

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Speaker 2: But that wasn't the only narrative. On the ground, there

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Speaker 2: was also a sense that maybe the Taliban had changed.

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Speaker 2: They were on social media now, they tweeted, they were

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Speaker 2: making reassuring comments about women. They were calling journalists like

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Speaker 2: YadA and sharing their plans. Maybe they'd learned a lesson.

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Speaker 2: Maybe this actually was a new Taliban Chapter two Decisions.

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Speaker 2: Just a stone's throw from the airport, a TV producer

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Speaker 2: is weighing the question of how much the Taliban has

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Speaker 2: changed in real time. His name is Masud Sanjar and

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Speaker 2: he is not running for his life, not yet anyway.

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Speaker 2: Masud is the director of channels at Tolo TV. He's

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Speaker 2: standing in the office wondering, what the hell do I do?

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Speaker 2: Do I keep the shows running, the soap opers, the

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Speaker 2: news and what about Afghan Star? Because how much has

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Speaker 2: the Taliban really changed? The question is visceral for my

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Speaker 2: suit because he has first hand experience. As a kid

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Speaker 2: fresh out of school in the nineties, he worked in

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Speaker 2: a radio station for the Taliban.

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Speaker 11: Everything was very heavily censored. Was a fearful job.

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Speaker 2: For ten dollars a month. Masud would translate whatever news

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Speaker 2: or decree the Taliban gave him into English. Then he'd

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Speaker 2: read it on air. Mau D had gone into radio

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Speaker 2: because he loved the medium. But then the Taliban took

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Speaker 2: over and they kept him on. And once you work

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Speaker 2: for the Taliban, it's very difficult to get out.

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Speaker 11: A friend of mine made a mistake. He was in

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Speaker 11: the container for three days, just eating one piece of

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Speaker 11: bread and a boiled potato.

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Speaker 2: So he read the headlines even when they made his

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Speaker 2: stomach churn. From hangings to edicts to the night the

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Speaker 2: Taliban destroyed the giant Buddhas that once towered over the

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Speaker 2: Bamiyan Valley. These awful and seminal moments of Taliban rain

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Speaker 2: were all broadcast in Masud's voice.

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Speaker 11: If I had a choice, I would have never never

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Speaker 11: read it. I always hated them, and but there was

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Speaker 11: no other way.

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Speaker 2: After the Taliban fell, Sad Mussni hired Masud at his

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Speaker 2: radio station Arman FM, and Masoud became one of the

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Speaker 2: first DJs on the airways, and pretty soon he was

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Speaker 2: a voice for the voiceless. He would stand and report

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Speaker 2: from a pothole until it got fixed. He would highlight

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Speaker 2: corruption and call up ministers for answers. One man had

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Speaker 2: waited six months to get a license and Masud and

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Speaker 2: his team got the situation taken care of with one

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Speaker 2: live phone call. Years before Afghan Star launched, Masud was

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Speaker 2: using his morning show to wake up the country. But

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Speaker 2: that was just the beginning for Maud. Over the next

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Speaker 2: two decades, he worked his way up to become head

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Speaker 2: up Tolo TV and then director of Channels, and that's

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Speaker 2: where we find him now in August twenty twenty one,

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Speaker 2: Standing in the nearly empty Afghan Star office with no

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Speaker 2: idea of what to do, Masoud runs his hands through

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Speaker 2: his thick, salt and pepper flecked hair. He doesn't know

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Speaker 2: if the Taliban are going to destroy the station or

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Speaker 2: if they'll allow the company to continue operating under the

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Speaker 2: Taliban's new and improved regime. Many of Masoud's colleagues have

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Speaker 2: already left the company the country. He's one of the

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Speaker 2: only senior employees remaining.

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Speaker 11: CEO was in Germany, our head of news run away

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Speaker 11: a day before, but I was making all the decisions

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Speaker 11: on what to put on.

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Speaker 2: Air, and so Masoud is steering this beast alone. One

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Speaker 2: of the last guardians of the cultural revolution. He and

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Speaker 2: Sa'ad and Daoude and Ariana lodged.

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Speaker 11: It was a chaos.

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Speaker 2: The skies are filled with aircraft evacuating foreign nationals. Embassies

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Speaker 2: are burning their files. Explosions can be heard, but no

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Speaker 2: one knows how close they are.

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Speaker 11: I could see that the army people, the police were

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Speaker 11: just taking off their uniforms and they were just dropping

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Speaker 11: their weapons in the ditch, and they were just running,

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Speaker 11: running away.

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Speaker 2: Masud can see that the few staff members left in

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Speaker 2: the office are terrified. They're watching the growing crowds in

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Speaker 2: the street too.

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Speaker 11: If your president runs away in a helicopter, if your

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Speaker 11: defense minister is on the run, how can you expect

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Speaker 11: from a soldier on the battlefield to form a front

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Speaker 11: and fight.

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Speaker 2: Masude calls a meeting. He gathers everyone together in the

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Speaker 2: office and he tells.

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Speaker 12: Them you go home.

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Speaker 11: I'll stay in the office.

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Speaker 2: He stays with just a few members of the staff

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Speaker 2: so they can keep updating the public for hours. They

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Speaker 2: wait until finally he can see Taliban by in the

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Speaker 2: streets outside.

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Speaker 11: Nobody expected that the cowboy was going to fall as fast.

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Speaker 11: I was on the phone until twelve am because I

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Speaker 11: was the one who was hitting the channels, and I

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Speaker 11: had to call my guys what to put on.

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Speaker 2: But knowing that the Taliban are right outside my suit.

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Speaker 2: Isn't so confident anymore. You can imagine the memories flashing

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Speaker 2: through his head, memories from the last time the Taliban

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Speaker 2: were in power.

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Speaker 11: I remember when we went to watch a football match

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Speaker 11: in the stadium. They brought this man who killed someone

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Speaker 11: and they just put him in the middle of the stadium,

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Speaker 11: shot them and took the body and went and the

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Speaker 11: match back on.

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Speaker 2: He remembers the bodies that lined the streets.

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Speaker 11: One night, I came from the radio station and I

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Speaker 11: look at the roundabout and there were four people hanging there.

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Speaker 11: I don't know they were there for four days.

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Speaker 2: At some point, Masud realizes there's no way of winning

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Speaker 2: right now because Taliban two point zero is a myth,

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Speaker 2: a pr stunt. So Masud gives his team an order.

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Speaker 11: And the very first night, we changed all the normal

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Speaker 11: drama series is. We cut the music. We had put

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Speaker 11: some Islamic shows on the primetime which we have never

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Speaker 11: dead before.

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Speaker 2: And he acknowledges defeat.

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Speaker 11: There's no music, there are no series is, there's no

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Speaker 11: Afghan start. We have changed everything. On the night the

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Speaker 11: Taliban took over the.

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Speaker 2: Cultural revolution, he helped ignite Afghan Star, the show that

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Speaker 2: took on the Taliban. It ends tonight. He pulls it

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Speaker 2: from the air. It's over. Hey, it's John Legend. If

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Speaker 2: you've been listening, you already know that Afghan Star is

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Speaker 2: a tale of resistance and hope. For fifteen years, Afghan

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Speaker 2: Star was a beacon, but when the Taliban returned to power,

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Speaker 2: they shut the show down along with so many Afghan rights.

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Speaker 2: They banned music education for girls and women, and they

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Speaker 2: continue to clamp down on everyone's freedoms. But there are

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Speaker 2: ways to show your support. We've teamed up with Awa

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Speaker 2: Studios and their incredible graphic artists to illustrate some of

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Speaker 2: the most extraordinary moments in this podcast. There is a

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Speaker 2: unique print for each episode, bringing to life powerful moments

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Speaker 2: that are moving and inspiring. And there's an unforgettable based

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Speaker 2: on a painting from Superstar artist Raza that represents the

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Speaker 2: spirit of hope embodied by the show. Art and music

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Speaker 2: have the power to uplift us all, and ordering a

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Speaker 2: work for yourself or as a gift help support Afghans.

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Speaker 2: With every purchase, we'll be donating to the Nore Initiative,

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Speaker 2: a nonprofit working to ensure that every Afghan Girl has

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Speaker 2: access to education and opportunity. For more information on our

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Speaker 2: collaboration with AWA, the artworks available to listeners, and to

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Speaker 2: learn more about the NORE Initiative's efforts to educate, support

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Speaker 2: independent media, and transform lives across the region, head to

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Speaker 2: the link in our show notes below chapter three back

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Speaker 2: to ninety six. Shortly after taking over in August twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty one, the Taliban hold a press conference setting out

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Speaker 2: their vision for the country, reminding the world of their

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Speaker 2: new and improved regime pua.

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Speaker 3: We have pardoned anyone all those who had fought against us.

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Speaker 3: We don't want to repeat of war. We want to

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Speaker 3: do away with the factors of conflict. So the Islamic

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Speaker 3: Emirate of Afghanistan does not have any conflict with anybody.

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Speaker 3: We want the fighting to end.

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Speaker 2: They declare that women can work, girls can get an

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Speaker 2: education muda hid.

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Speaker 3: Though the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is committed to the

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Speaker 3: rights of women within the framework of Sharia, our women

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Speaker 3: have the same rights. They can work in different sectors

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Speaker 3: on the basis of our rules and regulations in education

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Speaker 3: and health and other areas.

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Speaker 2: But within a few weeks things start to.

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Speaker 1: Change the country's new rulers now no longer allow boys

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Speaker 1: and girls to attend schools together.

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Speaker 5: Secondary school are also off limits.

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Speaker 6: Women are now unable to comfortably leave their homes without

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Speaker 6: a male gold.

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Speaker 3: Women are required to wear the burker when they leave

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Speaker 3: their house.

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Speaker 10: Their faces must be hidden.

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Speaker 13: The Taliban have imposed for the restrictions on the rights

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Speaker 13: of women in Afghanistan, banning females from parks and.

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Speaker 14: Fit tears in the classroom as female students realize the

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Speaker 14: Taliban are banning them from university.

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Speaker 2: And then it happens.

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Speaker 13: The Taliban in Afghanistan has burned musical instruments, claiming music

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Speaker 13: causes in moral corruption. Thousands of dollars worth of instruments

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Speaker 13: were sent up in smoke and a bonfire after all

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Speaker 13: forms of music was banned from social gatherings. The decision

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Speaker 13: is one of the numerous restrictions that have been imposed

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Speaker 13: under the strict interpretation of Islamic law.

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Speaker 2: Musicians flee, instruments are burned once again, and for the

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Speaker 2: first in twenty years, Afghanistan is plunged back into silence.

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Speaker 2: And that's it. That's the end of this story. After

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Speaker 2: twenty years, we pretty much ended up where we started,

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Speaker 2: and I know you might be thinking, what was the point?

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Speaker 2: A lot of Americans, fatigued by the news of the

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Speaker 2: war have asked themselves that to families who lost young soldiers,

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Speaker 2: men and women who came back with PTSD for what.

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Speaker 2: When the United States withdrew from Afghanistan, It's almost like

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Speaker 2: we were trying to shake off a mistake, wiping our

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Speaker 2: hands of the problems there. And ever since, the world

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Speaker 2: kind of shut Afghanistan out. There's a sense that all

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Speaker 2: of this was inevitable, that of course the Taliban was

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Speaker 2: going to come back into power and reinstate their brutal regime.

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Speaker 2: But that's not what the people living there think.

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Speaker 7: Guftan bahanis bahananah money, Guftan bahan nimes Bahanaay.

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Speaker 11: Everything was so good that you didn't have chance to

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Speaker 11: think about all this negativity. You were all positive. Afghanistan

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Speaker 11: was changing. You could see that all these young kids

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Speaker 11: studying abroad coming back to Afghanistan, like I saw the

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Speaker 11: progress with my eyes.

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Speaker 2: There were two generations of kids who grew up believing

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Speaker 2: in a new Afghanistan. There were women singing on television,

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Speaker 2: and people from different warring tribes hugging each other on

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Speaker 2: Afghan Star, showing the country they could coexist. There were

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Speaker 2: rappers and punk musicians, and this palpable sense of a

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Speaker 2: country thick with hope and culture and this sea of

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Speaker 2: young people. To them, those twenty years without Taliban rain

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Speaker 2: meant something.

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Speaker 10: Zudigikasafer Heyasafer.

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Speaker 2: Today almost everyone involved in Afghan Star lives in exile. Shaki,

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Speaker 2: the winner of season one with the Beautiful Voice. He

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Speaker 2: lives in Florida.

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Speaker 12: I was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, with lots of hopes.

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Speaker 2: But right now where I am, I am happy. That's it.

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Speaker 15: Janee coo Ja.

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Speaker 2: Habib, the young producer in Daywood's Protege.

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Speaker 16: I'm living in Germany since nine years now.

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Speaker 2: Ariana hops from one city to another. Sad is in London,

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Speaker 2: and Masoud he managed to get out too. In his

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Speaker 2: escape story, he fashions a cloth into a makeshift hijab

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Speaker 2: to keep from getting recognized. He lives in Turkey.

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Speaker 8: Now.

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Speaker 11: It's very hard because in Turkey there are eighty million

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Speaker 11: people and I'm only eighty million and one. But in Afghanistan,

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Speaker 11: I could make a difference every single day, So it's

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Speaker 11: a big, big difference. And sometimes I feel sad that

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Speaker 11: I can't do anything.

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Speaker 2: For people today. Masoud runs the TV output in Afghanistan

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Speaker 2: from an office in Istanbul. The channels are tame closely

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Speaker 2: watched by the Taliban ministers, but that doesn't mean he's

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Speaker 2: lowered his ambitions. There's talk of trying to put another

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Speaker 2: season of Afghanistar together, getting the band back for one

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Speaker 2: last go from abroad, streaming it into Afghanistan as a

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Speaker 2: little beam of hope, a reminder for everyone left behind

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Speaker 2: that they haven't been forgotten. Masud. He sits in his

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Speaker 2: desk chair and swivels around to point out his daughter's

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Speaker 2: drawings pinned behind him.

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Speaker 11: They told her that to draw something from Turkey, she

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Speaker 11: draw a hell in Afghanistan and put a flag of Afghanistan.

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Speaker 11: And she lefts Afghanistan.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Masud and his daughter, they miss Afghanistan. Every Afghan

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Speaker 2: we've spoken to in this series says they miss Afghanistan.

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Speaker 2: They worry for their friends, They dream of their homes,

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Speaker 2: and they think about the music, all the music they

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Speaker 2: danced to, sung along to, helped create. They wonder what

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Speaker 2: happened to all that music? Where it's gone? Is there

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Speaker 2: anything left? But while most are too afraid to find

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Speaker 2: out for themselves to go back. There's one guy, one

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Speaker 2: crazy guy who wasn't afraid, and he wasn't ready to

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Speaker 2: give up when everyone else was trying to get a

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Speaker 2: ticket out of there, he was trying to sneak back in.

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Speaker 16: And took a big risk. But that's who I am.

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Speaker 16: I do these crazy things all the time.

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Speaker 2: Daoud Sidiki, the man who started this story. The last

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Speaker 2: time you heard from Daoud was about fifteen years ago.

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Speaker 2: He was at sun Dance watching the premiere of a

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Speaker 2: documentary about Afghanistan, and then he went Mia. In the

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Speaker 2: years that followed, he settled in Washington, DC and got

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Speaker 2: a job working as a broadcaster in America. But in

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty two, he gets the news that his dad

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Speaker 2: is sick.

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Speaker 16: I wanted to meet him at last moments.

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Speaker 2: And so he decides to go back to an Afghanistan

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Speaker 2: run by the Taliban, in Afghanistan, where he might very

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Speaker 2: well be a wanted man.

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Speaker 16: I took a big risk.

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Speaker 2: Basically, it's a big risk because remember, for a time,

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Speaker 2: Daoud was the most famous person in Afghanistan, the host

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Speaker 2: of the countries the biggest TV show. But it's what

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Speaker 2: he does next that shows exactly who he is. When

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Speaker 2: Daoud goes to his family home, he sees his cassette collection,

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Speaker 2: the one he amassed in secret under the first Taliban regime,

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Speaker 2: tapes and tapes including a Kaman Zahir's music, the Afghan

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Speaker 2: Elvis singing songs about freedom and peace.

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Speaker 16: If I take it outside, that means I can save them.

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Speaker 16: If I don't, that means let the Taliban destroy everything. Basically,

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Speaker 16: that's what will happen if I do not take them out.

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Speaker 2: Daoud has seen viral videos of the Taliban burning piles

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Speaker 2: of musical instruments. He knows Afghan star violinists who have

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Speaker 2: set fire to their own sheet music. He's read the

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Speaker 2: articles about musicians leaving the country, Afghanistan's all female orchestra

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Speaker 2: exiled in Portugal. Music here is on a path to extinction,

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Speaker 2: and he realizes if he leaves these cassettes behind, they

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Speaker 2: will be erased as well, and so Daoud gets to work.

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Speaker 2: He thumbs to his collection, pulling out cassette after cassette.

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Speaker 16: And put most of my cassettes. I can see the

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Speaker 16: ones that I really love in my luggage.

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Speaker 2: But we're not talking five or ten cassettes here.

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Speaker 16: Like I brought around three hundred or three hundred and

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Speaker 16: fifty cassettes in one of my luggage.

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Speaker 2: He loads hundreds of bulky tapes into his suitcase until

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Speaker 2: he can't bit another, and then he zips it up

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Speaker 2: and heads to the airport.

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Speaker 16: I put a mask and I put the hat and

403
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Speaker 16: tried to hide myself.

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00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:55,800
Speaker 2: He can see the Taliban patrolling the airport outside.

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Speaker 16: It was very scary situation. When I just came to

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Speaker 16: the airport, my heart was beating very hard.

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Speaker 2: He's risking his life for these tapes because they mean

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Speaker 2: everything to him.

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Speaker 16: And praying in my heart that God please please allow

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Speaker 16: me to take these out. And if they find out,

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Speaker 16: they will ask who's that and what's going on? What

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Speaker 16: are these tapes?

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Speaker 2: If he's discovered the tapes will be the least of

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Speaker 2: his worries. He gets to the front of the security line.

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Speaker 2: He takes off his shoes. He puts his bag onto

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Speaker 2: the conveyor belt. He's trying to be casual to go unnoticed.

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00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:40,160
Speaker 2: His bag starts moving down the conveyor into the X

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Speaker 2: ray machine. He walks forward, slowly, head down, praying. The

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Speaker 2: bag just goes through and he can pick it up

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Speaker 2: on the other side. And that's when he feels a

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Speaker 2: tap on his shoulder. It's the security guard asking Daoud

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Speaker 2: to step aside.

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Speaker 16: Says, sit, what'scing on?

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Speaker 5: What are these cussos?

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Speaker 2: Bust? Daoud is certain he's about to be arrested and

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Speaker 2: handed over to the Taliban. The security guy opens Daoud's

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Speaker 2: bag and.

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Speaker 16: Says, everything needs to be returned. You cannot take them.

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Speaker 2: And then the guy looks at him, puts him right

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Speaker 2: in the eye.

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Speaker 16: When he saw me, he say, oh my god, that's you.

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Speaker 2: He has been gone from Afghanistan for over a decade

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Speaker 2: and still this security guard sees him and knows exactly

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Speaker 2: who he is. And then he sees a big smile

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00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:57,400
Speaker 2: break across his face and he turns to Daoud and tells.

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Speaker 16: Him he said no, no, no, go ahead, you're fine.

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00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:07,360
Speaker 2: Go ahead. Daoud grabs his bags and makes a pe

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Speaker 2: line for the plane.

439
00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:13,680
Speaker 16: And I took my tips and put it on the airplane,

440
00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:18,680
Speaker 16: and I was so happy.

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00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:27,160
Speaker 2: Daou Sidiki lives in Washington, d C. Now he's got

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Speaker 2: a wife and kids, and his home office is you

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Speaker 2: know what, Let's let him tell you.

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Speaker 16: Oh my god, I love it. I know this is

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Speaker 16: a podcast, but if you see my room, I decorated

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00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:44,680
Speaker 16: my room with my cassette taps. The decoration of my

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00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:48,800
Speaker 16: room is cassette players and cassette tapes. This is how

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00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:51,800
Speaker 16: it is all around me. And I have like specifically

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00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:57,200
Speaker 16: one cassette holder with one hundred cassettes that these are

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00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:03,280
Speaker 16: my top caste tips that I'm proud of. Like these

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00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:16,800
Speaker 16: cassettes are kind of like historic art effect of Avanistan. Oh,

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00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:27,240
Speaker 16: these were the pop cassettes or the songs that I

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Speaker 16: really love. But I love a lot of them, especially

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Speaker 16: the song It's all about Freedom.

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Speaker 2: Duggy.

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Speaker 8: Shut Out, zyd Vandagy, the car name.

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00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:25,160
Speaker 12: Van Day, Charcoal Bosh Zendagi, the record n.

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Speaker 8: Day van Dagy.

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Speaker 12: The.

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Speaker 16: And the song Amazar says that finally life will end

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00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:54,560
Speaker 16: anyway servitude is not okay. If servitude is the condition

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00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:59,560
Speaker 16: and life, life doesn't work. This is very iconic and

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00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:30,560
Speaker 16: revolutionary song. These cassettes bring me the memories of the

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Speaker 16: past and comforts me in a very hard time. It's

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Speaker 16: just bring me back the older answer.

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Speaker 15: Arkasha Doshmo, Arkashaws, Mama Monas, Kusho.

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Speaker 14: Margo, Shikas Standing Shapindegi the recall names Zindagi, Saramia Vandegi,

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00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:31,640
Speaker 14: The Coon.

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Speaker 12: Bandagi, Sharka Bosha, Zindagi.

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Speaker 2: H Afghan Star is a Kaleidoscope production in collaboration with

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Speaker 2: iHeart Podcasts, produced by samas dot Audio and hosted by

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00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:31,320
Speaker 2: me John Legend from samas dot Audio. The series producer

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Speaker 2: is Mira Kumar. Our executive producers are Joe Sikes and

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00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:45,160
Speaker 2: Dasha Listsina. Mixed and sound designed by Jeff Imptman, Story

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00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:50,600
Speaker 2: editing by Joe Sikes, with original composition by Kyle Murdoch,

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00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:57,279
Speaker 2: Recording engineer Tim McClain. Chapter artwork by A w A

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00:36:57,480 --> 00:37:04,960
Speaker 2: Studios Kaleidoscope. The executive producers are Kate Osborne, Mengesh Hatikadur

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Speaker 2: Oz Volisian and Costas Linos from iHeart. The executive producers

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00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:16,160
Speaker 2: are Ali Perry and Katrina NorVa. Social Media by Darra

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00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:22,680
Speaker 2: Patts and Vahini Shormy. Special thanks to Tom Preston, Lizzie Jacobs,

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00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:28,320
Speaker 2: Will Pearson, Carrie Lieberman, Nikki Etore, Bob Pittman, John Sykes,

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00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:33,200
Speaker 2: Conno Byrne Sad Mussenni and the Mossenny Family, Matthew Anderson

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00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:34,800
Speaker 2: and Axe Alonzo