Some Noise

Quote: “Where do you want to start?” —Farhad Azad About: Afghanistan has far too often been referred to as a place where countries go to die, it is a graveyard of empires. This moniker has been cited so many times and for so long that it’s unclear who first said it. Even the Afghan community will recite this pride. But what a title like this fails to convey is that while this might be a country responsible for the many tombstones of others, it very well is also a moratorium of progress for itself, a state in perpetual arrested development. This is also a cemetery for countless Afghans who, in more modern times, failed to see any empire rise. Why do some countries get to debate their histories while others have their legacy determined by outsiders? And what gets lost along the way? This is Part II of a multi-part story on how history, current events, and culture all complicate the Afghan identity.  Show Notes: [00:30] “The Layers of Heaven” by Jovica [00:45] The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini [00:50] The Br