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Speaker 1: Previously on Afghan Star, the Taliban takeover Afghanistan.

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Speaker 2: What Taliban bring with them pure religious fanaticism.

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Speaker 1: They ban music, TV, dancing.

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Speaker 2: Music, instruments like guitar, tabla, rubob, these things, TVs, VCRs.

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Speaker 2: They will break them and hang them above their checkpoints.

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Speaker 1: But finally, after five years the regime is topled.

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Speaker 3: People are running toward freedom.

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Speaker 1: I'm John Legard and from Kaleidoscope and ihearten. This is

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Speaker 1: Afghan Star Chapter one, Hope f M. Welcome back to

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Speaker 1: armand f M, Afghanistan's number one radio station. Today we're

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Speaker 1: doing something a little different. Last time we heard about

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Speaker 1: how a small group of cultural rebels fought back against

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Speaker 1: the Taliban and brought music back to Afghanistan. Now we

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Speaker 1: want to tell you about what happened next, how the

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Speaker 1: cultural revolution that led to Afghanistar began. And so for

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Speaker 1: this very special episode of the show, we've got the

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Speaker 1: big Boss, Sad Mussni and his siblings Zayed, Jayed and

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Speaker 1: Wasjma in the studio. Everything around us was built by

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Speaker 1: the Mosnes, the company and the studio we're sitting in.

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Speaker 1: So we're going to interview them and hear how they

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Speaker 1: became accidental media moguls in Afghanistan. The story starts on

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Speaker 1: a day a lot of us remember dot.

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Speaker 4: Some breaking news just through and CNN is reporting tonight

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Speaker 4: that a plane has crashed into the World Trade Center.

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Speaker 1: Sad. You were working as a businessman at the time

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Speaker 1: in Australia and you were sitting on your couch watching

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Speaker 1: this news come through. What do you remember thinking this.

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Speaker 5: Is all about Afghanistan. Things are going to change. So

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Speaker 5: it was almost immediate in terms of knowing that this

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Speaker 5: was going to happen. And I it sounds a good corny,

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Speaker 5: but you know it was like a calling to.

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Speaker 1: Go back now. Your family had fled Kabble when you

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Speaker 1: were a child, So how did you manage to convince

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Speaker 1: your siblings that you should all go back to Afghanistan

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Speaker 1: and that it's a good business idea.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I'll give the censored vision. I think my mom

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Speaker 6: might otherwise get upset, said, I guess he's like the visionary.

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Speaker 7: He don't like excealing with anyone, including people who don't

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Speaker 7: agree with him, like completely don't agree with him, including

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Speaker 7: people who may say that he should be killed. He'll

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Speaker 7: happily go and have a conversation with him not have

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Speaker 7: an argument to.

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Speaker 1: What have you? And was he always telling you guys

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Speaker 1: what to do?

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Speaker 8: Even when we were playing games, So say, you know,

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Speaker 8: we're playing with toys, So Jiad and I would play

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Speaker 8: with toys, Sod would say, hold on, hold on, I'm

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Speaker 8: going to play. You guys watch, so he'd make us watch.

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Speaker 4: You wouldn't let us touch anything.

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Speaker 1: So side, Bearing in mind that Afghanistan is a country

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Speaker 1: that has endured decades of war, how did you even

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Speaker 1: manage to get a flight there? In two thousand and.

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Speaker 5: Two, Ariana Airlines had I think a single seven two

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Speaker 5: seven was constantly booked out because people are so keen

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Speaker 5: to get back.

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Speaker 1: And you are an insane networker, so naturally, you know,

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Speaker 1: the head of the airline.

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Speaker 5: He must have been in his eighties, but he looked

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Speaker 5: like he was one hundred and twenty. He was pretty

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Speaker 5: frail and fragile looking, and we just hassled him, you know,

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Speaker 5: and rang them constantly.

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Speaker 8: Well, Sad was doing the charm offensive on the sky.

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Speaker 8: I think he talked about how young the guy looked. Anyway,

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Speaker 8: he's somehow Sad managed to become his best friend in

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Speaker 8: about two days, and right until the last minute, he's

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Speaker 8: saying to us, now there's no seats, and then he said, okay,

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Speaker 8: you three come up.

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Speaker 1: Now. This plane is packed with Afghans returning home after

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Speaker 1: years of dreaming about their country. So what was it

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Speaker 1: like when they made the announcement that you were entering

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Speaker 1: Afghan airspace?

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Speaker 5: All the conversations stopped. There are people who are crying

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Speaker 5: on the plane. It's a weird feeling because it's I mean,

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Speaker 5: we always expected to go back, but we didn't think

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Speaker 5: it was going to take us twenty odd years to

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Speaker 5: get back.

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Speaker 1: What was your first glimpse of the country, Like.

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Speaker 5: The airport had potholes all over the runway, damaged aircraft.

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Speaker 5: Bits of the city had been completely and totally destroyed,

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Speaker 5: completely worn out. It was like a city of zombies.

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Speaker 5: And I think that was the most striking thing that

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Speaker 5: the people seemed so out of it, with the sort

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Speaker 5: of blank looks on their faces.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so the four of you get here this bombed

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Speaker 1: out city and you try something. I think you try

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Speaker 1: and set up a phone book company. Yeah, and then

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Speaker 1: you come up with Arman FM. Can you explain the idea?

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Speaker 5: You know, there's a mix of fun jokes, music, weather,

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Speaker 5: the news and so.

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Speaker 1: Forth, kind of like a mix of MTV and drive

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Speaker 1: time morning radio with music that's what you wanted it

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Speaker 1: to sound like, which for Afghans in two thousand and

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Speaker 1: three was a pretty radical idea, right.

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Speaker 5: Yes, we didn't know what the hell we were doing.

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Speaker 5: I mean, it was like, well, we'll just start this

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Speaker 5: and see how it goes.

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Speaker 6: We were literally working out of a house.

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Speaker 7: We started knocking down walls and made it into like,

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Speaker 7: you know, build windows.

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Speaker 5: And we had the radio station downstairs, and there are

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Speaker 5: people upstairs and people barging. This guy was living with us.

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Speaker 5: He always used to forget to lock the bathroom door

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Speaker 5: and people would always walk in on him, you know.

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Speaker 5: And we had a time of let listen, you gotta

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Speaker 5: learn to lock the door.

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Speaker 1: And what about hiring? How'd you find people?

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Speaker 5: We conducted these interviews and met lots of people, but

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Speaker 5: most people were unfamiliar with the idea of a modern

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Speaker 5: pop radio station. It was all alien to them.

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Speaker 6: I remember joh had a nice sitting down and showing

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Speaker 6: producers clips of stand up comedy like Jerry Seinfeld, kind

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Speaker 6: of to get them to get a taste of what

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Speaker 6: it is stand up comedy.

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Speaker 9: Have you ever called someone up and you're disappointed when

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Speaker 9: they answered the phone you wanted the machine.

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Speaker 6: People would laugh, I think out of obligation if they

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Speaker 6: meant I have found funny.

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Speaker 7: We had kids that were working with us. It wasn't

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Speaker 7: just that they didn't have media experience. A lot of

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Speaker 7: them wouldn't even know how to use a computer. So

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Speaker 7: you're going back into real basics.

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Speaker 1: I have to be honest. It feels like so many

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Speaker 1: things could have gone wrong. I am dreading the launch.

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Speaker 1: Tell me what happened.

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Speaker 5: As a matter of fact, I was on holidays in Australia,

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Speaker 5: but we launched, and I recalled my brother calling me

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Speaker 5: and saying you'd better get back. This is getting out

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Speaker 5: of hand. What was extraordinary was give me in a taxi,

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Speaker 5: listen to a program, get out, you know, and in

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Speaker 5: a particular part of time, and as you walk past

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Speaker 5: every shop or stall, you keep following the program.

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Speaker 1: This is our radio station.

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Speaker 6: People are listening to it and they love it.

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Speaker 1: So Arman f M was a huge success. But you

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Speaker 1: didn't stop there, did you. Side You don't have.

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Speaker 5: The opportunity to take stock and say, hey, wow, we've

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Speaker 5: done this great thing. You're scrambling basically to keep moving forward.

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Speaker 1: So Sad and his siblings want to keep pushing forward,

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Speaker 1: and pretty soon they set up a TV station called

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Speaker 1: toll O TV. They changed the media landscape of Afghanistan,

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Speaker 1: but their ambitions were bigger, much bigger, and that story

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Speaker 1: is coming up after the.

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Speaker 4: News Afghanistan Winner Is My Heart was beating the.

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Speaker 1: Chapter two diamond in the rough. From the beginning, Sad

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Speaker 1: knew that Afghan Star wasn't going to be a slam dunk.

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Speaker 5: There were huge risks because I think Afghan's rural conservative

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Speaker 5: Afghans are very sensitive to people performing, in particular females.

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Speaker 1: He wanted to rush it to air to make sure

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Speaker 1: he was first to market, and he needed someone to

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Speaker 1: run it, someone he could trust to host and produce

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Speaker 1: it not only well but quickly. So he leaned on

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Speaker 1: his ACE radio producer Daoud.

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Speaker 3: That was a big expectation, Like I knew, this is

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Speaker 3: not a small show, this is something big. I didn't

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Speaker 3: know how to start, what to.

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Speaker 1: Do, and somehow they pulled it off. Episode one was

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Speaker 1: a hit, way bigger than anyone could have predicted.

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Speaker 2: Yesterday I was driving in the streets and no one

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Speaker 2: noticed me, But today everyone is talking about my show

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Speaker 2: and me and ever even recognized me.

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Speaker 1: But that just scratches the surface of season one story

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Speaker 1: because what happens next transforms the lives of ordinary Afghans,

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Speaker 1: people who had no concept of what it was like

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Speaker 1: to be successful, to be famous.

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Speaker 4: Zindigiicasafer, Heyasafer.

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Speaker 1: This is Shakib Hamdan. We met him in episode one,

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Speaker 1: the guy who wowed the judges with his beautiful voice.

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Speaker 1: He's just twenty years old, but he doesn't have the

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Speaker 1: life of a young, carefree boy. He wakes up every day,

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Speaker 1: goes to work, driving a van around Cobble, picking up

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Speaker 1: customers and dropping them off. He's like an uber driver.

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Speaker 1: When he has a spare moment, he goes shopping for

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Speaker 1: food for his family. Then he gets back to driving

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Speaker 1: all day and all night. There isn't time for anything else.

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Speaker 1: There isn't even much time for sleep.

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Speaker 4: I always struggling to work good, make money, bring you know,

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Speaker 4: like fruits, meats or rise like that things the bread.

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Speaker 1: The rest of his time is spent caring for his

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Speaker 1: mother and his sister.

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Speaker 4: To make them you know, happy, always like hey, you

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Speaker 4: have everything, don't worry, your son is alive.

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Speaker 1: Like that you know, as we heard in episode one,

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Speaker 1: he's and then the man of the house since his

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Speaker 1: father was killed by a suicide bomber.

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Speaker 4: No one deserved that as a human, and his brother

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Speaker 4: was killed by a rocket during halftime. The rock had

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Speaker 4: come dead and you know, boom.

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Speaker 1: So when Shakiv heard about the auditions for Afghanistar, he

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Speaker 1: just dismissed it. I mean, sure he liked to sing,

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Speaker 1: but he was busy driving, trying to provide for his family.

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Speaker 1: It was his mom who told him, Shakib, get down there,

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Speaker 1: show them what you've got. So he did and it

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Speaker 1: went well, very well.

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Speaker 4: Everyone was gloving, you know, and they was like, who

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Speaker 4: make noises like that?

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Speaker 1: After that first audition, Shakiv started moving through the rounds

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Speaker 1: Dundee from the thousands to the top one twenty position

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Speaker 1: until he reaches the top twelve.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He was like excited to see myself.

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Speaker 1: His family doesn't know it, but Shakiev has been planning

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Speaker 1: his whole week around this episode.

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Speaker 4: And on that time there wasn't electricity. You know, I

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Speaker 4: was going to get loan from my cousin, you know,

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Speaker 4: like borrow some money to buy a generator to watch

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Speaker 4: the TV. Everyone was excited, like my mom didn't eat

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Speaker 4: on that night.

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Speaker 1: The show opens on Dowd. He's on stage, one hand

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Speaker 1: in his soup pot, the other holding a microphone. As

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Speaker 1: he introduces the show. He's addressing a small audience who

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Speaker 1: are sitting in rows of red seats facing the stage.

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Speaker 1: One by one, the contestants performed.

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Speaker 9: Hurg Is, hur Is, Lusty, dart, Shu, hav Man, Nikki, ni.

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Speaker 4: Nig, have you.

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Speaker 1: Nomah Yeah, And finally it's shak Keep's turn. He's dressed

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Speaker 1: in a black pin striped soup that's too big for him,

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Speaker 1: a large stripey shirt collar poking out over the top,

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Speaker 1: and his head is parted down the middle.

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Speaker 4: So when I see that skinny guys singing guy, I

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Speaker 4: was like, I keep you do it?

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Speaker 10: Oh no, he.

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Speaker 1: Looks so young, but he's confident, moving around the stage

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Speaker 1: one hand outstretched to the audience, emphasizing the words as

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Speaker 1: he says. The crowd gets so into it that Dude

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Speaker 1: even grabs a mic and starts dueting the last few lines.

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Speaker 1: Holds that up, Okay, get in there. Then Daude reads

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Speaker 1: out the safe contestants and Shaked survives for another round

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Speaker 1: at home. Shakiv is grinning so wide, his mom is

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Speaker 1: clutching his hand, and the family is cheering in disbelief.

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Speaker 4: And my cousins was hugging me, leg you did it. Oh,

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Speaker 4: you did it.

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Speaker 1: Just ten other contestants between him and first place. When

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Speaker 1: he first started, Shakib didn't think he had a chance.

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Speaker 1: After all, he was just a local cab driver, a kid.

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Speaker 1: But now he's in the final eleven and he's starting

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Speaker 1: to feel the pressure.

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Speaker 4: I was a poor guy. I didn't have that much money,

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Speaker 4: you know, to buy a good clothes on this stage.

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Speaker 4: What I had at home. I was waiting and go

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Speaker 4: on this stage.

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Speaker 1: But Shakiv has become a fan favorite. He's the boy

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Speaker 1: next door, the contestant that has come to represent so

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Speaker 1: many of the viewers, and his fans start doing whatever

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Speaker 1: they can to support him. Even the guy that Shakib

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Speaker 1: buys vegetables from.

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Speaker 4: Him, he was like, hey, I'm going to vote for you.

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Speaker 4: I said, thank you so much. And on that day

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Speaker 4: he didn't charge me for the vegetable. You know, I said, no, no,

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Speaker 4: take this money. He said, no, no, no, this is

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Speaker 4: a gift for you.

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Speaker 1: The little kindnesses from the community mount and with every

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Speaker 1: episode that passes, Shakeep's fan base grows, but Shaqim knows

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Speaker 1: in order to win the competition he needs more support,

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Speaker 1: so he enlists his sister.

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Speaker 4: She was in this school on that time. She was

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Speaker 4: like talking about me with the class Smiths.

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Speaker 1: You know, she's in math class, telling anyone she can

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Speaker 1: to vote for her brother. Because just like American Idol

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Speaker 1: or The Voice, in the end, it's not up to

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Speaker 1: the judges. The people at home decide why vote off.

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Speaker 1: This season officially closed and I have the results right

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Speaker 1: here in my hand, all based on your vote. Let's

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Speaker 1: do it, Tom Dim.

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Speaker 6: Here we go.

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Speaker 1: Chapter three, How to Win an Election. So hold up,

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Speaker 1: before we go on with the story, I want to

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Speaker 1: talk about audience voting for a second. For most of us,

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Speaker 1: it's no big deal. We're all familiar with the idea

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Speaker 1: of picking up your phone and calling or texting to

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Speaker 1: support your favorite contestant to keep them on the show.

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Speaker 1: On the Voice, hopefully you're all voting for Team Legend.

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Speaker 1: But what you probably don't realize is what a big

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Speaker 1: deal this is for people in Afghanistan, like that vegetable

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Speaker 1: seller or Shakiv's little sister. It's like a completely new

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Speaker 1: concept to them. They haven't seen a show like this before.

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Speaker 1: But also a lot of Afghans have never been able

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Speaker 1: to vote or have their voice heard or have a

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Speaker 1: say and who wins anything ever, But what's amazing is

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Speaker 1: how quickly people buy into the idea.

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Speaker 3: Honestly, I can say that it felt like a gender

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Speaker 3: election and am.

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Speaker 1: Oncestne contestants become like political candidates.

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Speaker 3: People were so excited and so serious about it, like

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Speaker 3: if these guys will become presidents.

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Speaker 1: Bands print hundreds of posters and plaster them all over

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Speaker 1: the city. Supporters formed convoys of cars through cobble streets,

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Speaker 1: yelling at pedestrians through their megaphones.

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Speaker 11: There was thousands of people standing on both sides of

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Speaker 11: the streets and they were cheering their favorite contestants.

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Speaker 1: Name that's super fan Ahmed Nazami. He loves the show

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Speaker 1: so much he has come up with a way of

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Speaker 1: gaming the system.

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Speaker 11: I had around five hundred SIM cards.

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Speaker 1: He knows you're only supposed to vote once, but he

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Speaker 1: quickly realizes if you manage to secure five hundred SIM cards,

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Speaker 1: then you can vote five hundred times.

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Speaker 4: It was a tough job.

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Speaker 11: Nokia double three one zero was a very famous telephone

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Speaker 11: at that time, no camera, just you need to remove

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Speaker 11: the battery, change the sim card, switch it on, vote

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Speaker 11: for your favorite contestant, and.

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Speaker 1: He does that every week. Needless to say, the show

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Speaker 1: quickly becomes a major event in the lives of Afghans.

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Speaker 1: They arrange their whole week around it. They spend their

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Speaker 1: limited money to vote, and they use their spare time

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Speaker 1: to go out canvassing for their favorite contestants.

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Speaker 2: I can say billions of dollars were spent to have

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Speaker 2: elections and have one son, but we were the people

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Speaker 2: who taught Afghans how to be part of a democratic process.

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Speaker 1: Shakiv does not take his fan support lightly. For him,

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Speaker 1: winning is the difference between the daily struggle to provide

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Speaker 1: for his family and finally being secure. It's the difference

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Speaker 1: between him working multiple jobs and filling his body ache

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Speaker 1: at the end of each long day and finally being

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Speaker 1: able to enjoy his life. So he obsesses over every performance.

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Speaker 1: Every song choice he makes is deliberate, every lyric has

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Speaker 1: to be filled with meaning. As the weeks go on,

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Speaker 1: Shakiv gets through to the top ten, the top six,

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Speaker 1: and before he knows it, tomorrow is the finale.

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Speaker 4: I couldn't sleep that night. During night sometime I smoke

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Speaker 4: cigarettes so when I get stressed or a little bit nervous.

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Speaker 4: So on that time, I was smoking cigarette and I

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Speaker 4: couldn't sleep. I was watching on the sky. I was like, hey, God,

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Speaker 4: there is any store for me?

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Speaker 1: Please? You know, Shaki blows a final puff of smoke

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Speaker 1: into the sky and when it clears, he sees the

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Speaker 1: sign he's been waiting for him.

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Speaker 4: So I saw like the shooting Star. I said, Oh,

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Speaker 4: I could have been this. I gonna have in this.

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Speaker 1: Hey, it's John legend. If you've been listening, you already

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Speaker 1: know that Afghanstar is a tale of resistance and hope.

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Speaker 1: For fifteen years, Afghanstar was a beacon, but when the

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Speaker 1: Taliban returned to power, they shut the sho show down

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Speaker 1: along with so many Afghan rights. They band music education

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Speaker 1: for girls and women, and they continue to clamp down

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Speaker 1: on everyone's freedoms. But there are ways to show your support.

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Speaker 1: We've teamed up with a WA Studios and their incredible

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Speaker 1: graphic artists to illustrate some of the most extraordinary moments

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Speaker 1: in this podcast. There is a unique print for each episode,

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Speaker 1: bringing to life powerful moments that are moving and inspiring,

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Speaker 1: and there's an unforgettable print based on a painting from

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Speaker 1: superstar artist Raza that represents the spirit of hope embodied

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Speaker 1: by the show. Art and music have the power to

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Speaker 1: uplift us all, and ordering a work for yourself or

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Speaker 1: as a gift help support Afghans. With every purchase will

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00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,600
Speaker 1: be donating to the Nore Initiative, a nonprofit working to

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00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:03,400
Speaker 1: ensure that every Afghan girl has access to education and opportunity.

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Speaker 1: For more information on our collaboration with AWA, the artworks

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00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:13,000
Speaker 1: available to listeners, and to learn more about the Neer

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00:24:13,119 --> 00:24:18,639
Speaker 1: Initiative's efforts to educate, support independent media, and transform lives

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Speaker 1: across the region, head to the link in our show

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Speaker 1: notes below. Chapter four The Finale. Tonight's the night, the

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Speaker 1: season one finale of Afghanistar is about to air and

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Speaker 1: the whole country is waiting anxiously to find out who

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Speaker 1: will be crowned the winner. Waj Ma, the younger sister

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Speaker 1: of sad Mosni, pulls up to the venue early.

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Speaker 6: It was a very simple kind of concert set up,

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Speaker 6: very modest, not flash it all and if you look

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Speaker 6: at sort of today's set it's completely different.

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Speaker 1: The set is makeshift, but they're trying to make it

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Speaker 1: as polished as possible, So Wijma does a couple of

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Speaker 1: checks and swings by the stage.

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Speaker 6: I kind of wanted to have it like a slick

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Speaker 6: modern stage setup with you know, led lights, you know more,

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Speaker 6: sort of that style.

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Speaker 1: She's going for Beyonce concert vibes, just lower budget. But

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Speaker 1: when she arrives, she discovers someone else has decided to

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Speaker 1: add their own creative vision to the set.

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Speaker 3: I don't know who it was.

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Speaker 6: Someone had decided to roll out the Afghan rug on

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Speaker 6: stage and ruin that vibe completely.

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Speaker 1: Not exactly what you think of when you think biggest

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Speaker 1: show in the country. It's giving Auntie's living room.

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Speaker 6: I could even to imagine my dad doing something like that.

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Speaker 1: So Wajma gets it removed, immediately warns the staff not

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Speaker 1: to put it back, and then starts handling the box office.

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Speaker 3: I couldn't believe.

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Speaker 6: It was way beyond what I expected.

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Speaker 1: The line stretches up over the hills, hundreds of people,

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Speaker 1: Traffic can't get in or out. The crowd is so

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Speaker 1: big that wij Mah can actually hear them through the

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Speaker 1: venues walls.

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Speaker 6: It was like going to a pop concert and having

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Speaker 6: crowds like waiting outside wanting to get in.

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Speaker 1: Everyone wants a ticket, but wasj Ma is sold out,

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Speaker 1: so she locks her office door and slips out into

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Speaker 1: the growing crop.

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Speaker 6: Being in the audience was just like I've never experienced

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Speaker 6: something like that before. Men, women, young, old, different, you know, demographics,

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Speaker 6: It didn't matter and it was incredible, Like the energy

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Speaker 6: was incredible. For the final time, Let's welcome Shiqif handed

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Speaker 6: to the stage.

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Speaker 1: Could this be the end of the road for this

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Speaker 1: twenty two year old van driver.

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Speaker 6: Does he have enough votes or is it to hang

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Speaker 6: out his khakis because tonight he's going home the very

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Speaker 6: first winner of Afghansta.

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Speaker 3: That's her goord, that's Akord.

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Speaker 4: Everywhere I had this stress. I think I was losing colories,

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Speaker 4: switting a lot.

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Speaker 1: Shakib is looking out into the faces of hundreds of people.

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00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:31,400
Speaker 1: His stomach is turning, his hand is slipping around the mic.

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Speaker 1: He sings a love song from a Bollywood movie, his

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Speaker 1: words ring out to the audience.

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Speaker 4: Gull shan be abo.

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Speaker 1: Now the garden looks barren to me. My own people

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Speaker 1: look like strangers to me.

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Speaker 4: Coobegono, look at that.

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Speaker 1: I'm lost in memories of you.

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Speaker 4: I'm thirty, doly co longer name name, there e every no.

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Speaker 10: Evy no in the head, in the gega guzarda, oh

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Speaker 10: the geg buzzarda.

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Speaker 4: All of sudder.

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Speaker 1: You don't need me to tell me. You can hear

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Speaker 1: it for yourself. That's the audience going. Why they're screamed

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Speaker 1: waving glow sticks in the air.

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Speaker 4: I was like, oh, Shaki, now there is a chance

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Speaker 4: to win this one. Be confident you can make it.

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Speaker 1: Boy. Shakiv is elated. He thinks to himself, I could

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Speaker 1: actually win this. But then his rival steps onto the

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Speaker 1: stage to perform use of.

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Speaker 4: Sis used to say of people, make more noises. I

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Speaker 4: was like, you're gonna lose this one.

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Speaker 1: He's wearing round sunglasses with brown limbses and he's dressed

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Speaker 1: in white with a black vest over the top. It's

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Speaker 1: very summer of love vibes and quite a contrast to

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Speaker 1: Shakib's black suit, red shirt and stripey tie.

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Speaker 4: The crowd loves it, so that was copying a voice

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Speaker 4: of old singer. The voice was so heavy and it

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Speaker 4: was like, wow, oh, they're gonna get more votes than.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. And then it's time for the moment they've been

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Speaker 1: waiting for. Shakib stares up at the ceiling and back

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Speaker 1: down at the floor. H The seconds seemed to stretch

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Speaker 1: out into eternity.

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Speaker 3: Ko John Macomie story.

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Speaker 4: And his star winner is and she just stopped there.

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Speaker 9: What comes?

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Speaker 4: My heart was beating, you know, dope do dope do dope,

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Speaker 4: dope do.

439
00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:26,920
Speaker 1: How much you gave it an dars to go air one.

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00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:36,240
Speaker 4: I was on the knee to thank God, you know,

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00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:40,120
Speaker 4: like thank you God. My fans was stand up and

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00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:44,640
Speaker 4: give me a stand ovation and glopping and make noises.

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00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:59,320
Speaker 1: But when Shaquid looks up, he realizes that mixed in

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00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:01,760
Speaker 1: with the cheers, our shouts and.

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00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:05,760
Speaker 4: Grunts, fans start fighting with my friends.

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00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:09,880
Speaker 1: And then there's a flurry of swinging arms and flailing legs.

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00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:14,120
Speaker 4: Cool cal cal i was hitting the pinches noises when

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00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 4: they hit each other. Thank god, there was only panches.

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00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:24,840
Speaker 4: You know, if there was knife, there was you know,

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00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:25,800
Speaker 4: killing each other.

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00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:32,400
Speaker 1: Shaquib doesn't watch for long before he knows it. He's

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00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,760
Speaker 1: whisked off stage by security and rushed out of the building.

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00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:43,240
Speaker 1: My boy's arm at the farm. Shakib makes a bee

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00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:45,800
Speaker 1: line for his home all he wants to do is

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00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:49,440
Speaker 1: see his mom to tell her, look, I did it.

456
00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:53,240
Speaker 1: It's all because of you. And when the car pulls up,

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00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:57,120
Speaker 1: the front door opens and Shakib flies right into her arms.

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00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 4: My mom, will you know, crying, hugging me and I

459
00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:06,720
Speaker 4: and what she was, you know, grabbing the head. She

460
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:10,240
Speaker 4: was hugging me. She was looking in my face. Again.

461
00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:13,040
Speaker 4: I told you you're gonna win it. I told you.

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00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:18,280
Speaker 1: Just like Daoud, she keeps life changes overnight.

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00:33:18,880 --> 00:33:24,080
Speaker 4: The happy life was started from that night. During the

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00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:29,400
Speaker 4: time before competition, before this show, I was working day

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00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:34,400
Speaker 4: and night to support my family. But after this, when

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00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:38,200
Speaker 4: I became famous, you know, for one week, I was

467
00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:43,040
Speaker 4: only you know, like waking up doing my breakfast and

468
00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:48,960
Speaker 4: sleep waking up doing my launch. Didn't sleep. But after

469
00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:54,560
Speaker 4: this I am a person who is flying, you know,

470
00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:59,000
Speaker 4: in the sky. You know, like, hey, she keep your

471
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:03,480
Speaker 4: flying right now. You're free completely, No one is there

472
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:04,320
Speaker 4: to destroy you.

473
00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:22,359
Speaker 1: The first season of Afghan Star is in the can.

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00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:25,360
Speaker 1: Nothing in this country will be the same after this.

475
00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:28,440
Speaker 1: The people feel like they have a voice, they know

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00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,960
Speaker 1: how to vote, they've learned to use their phones, they

477
00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:38,040
Speaker 1: have music again. Everyone can feel the change. But that

478
00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:43,880
Speaker 1: feeling won't last because pretty soon Afghan Star will come

479
00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:49,400
Speaker 1: under attack. It will become a lightning rod, and the producers,

480
00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:53,440
Speaker 1: the judges, the contestants will feel the world begin to

481
00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:54,920
Speaker 1: close in on them.

482
00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:57,360
Speaker 11: If we're doing one, you're here. If you want to

483
00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:01,840
Speaker 11: walk into this province, you want to shut your day, that's.

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00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:15,839
Speaker 1: Next time on Afghan Star. Afghan Star is a Kaleidoscope

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00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:21,760
Speaker 1: production in collaboration with iHeart Podcasts, produced by Samidat Audio

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00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:27,200
Speaker 1: and hosted by me John Legend. From Samizdat Audio, the

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00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:31,680
Speaker 1: series producer is Meera Kumar. Our executive producers are Joe

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00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:38,080
Speaker 1: Sykes and Dasha Lisitsina. Mix and sound designed by Jeff Emtman.

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00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:45,120
Speaker 1: Story editing by Joe Sykes, with original composition by Kyle Murdoch.

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00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:55,000
Speaker 1: Recording engineer Tim McClain. Chapter artwork by Awa Studios. From Kaleidoscope,

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00:35:55,200 --> 00:36:00,680
Speaker 1: the executive producers are Kate Osborn, Mangesh Hattikudur Oz Woloshyn and

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00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:05,920
Speaker 1: Costas Linos from iHeart. The executive producers are Ali Perry

493
00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:11,040
Speaker 1: and Katrina Norvell. Social Media by Dara Potts and Vahini Shori.

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00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:17,880
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Tom Freston Lizzie Jacobs Will Pearson, Carrie Lieberman,

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00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:23,600
Speaker 1: Nikki Ettore, Bob Pittman, John Sykes, Conal Byrne, Saad Mohseni,

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00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:27,840
Speaker 1: and the Mohseni family, Matthew Anderson and Axel Alonzo