Afghan postcards

This month – on the fourth year anniversary of its invasion of Iraq – the world is assessing the carnage. But missing from the ledger are those forgotten victims of the war on terror … the displaced and dead in Afghanistan, and the millions of desperate refugees who’ve fled from inside Iraq. This week’s Radio New Internationalist makes contact with them.

• The youngest member of Afghanistan’s Parliament – Malalai Joya – talks fearlessly about the warlords that still dirty any prospect of democracy in her country; the US policies that put them in power; and the personal price that those who speak up against them must pay.

• Cathy Breen, who works with just some of the 700,000 Iraqis who have attempted to escape the violence in their country by journeying to Jordan, recounts the policies and practices of the Western countries which started that violence, to leave Iraqi refugees to rot.

• And as the war on terror moves into cyberspace, Julien Pain, from Reporters sans Frontières, assesses whether human rights activists are set to become second-class citizens.

The musical morsels sprinkled through this week’s program come from the CD Introducing Etran Finatawa: a band from Niger – the crossroads between the Arabs of North Africa and the sub-Saharan traditions.

Listen now (click the play button) or download the program (click this link)

Subscribe to the podcast