Afghanistan: The End Of The Longest War 🤍
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Season 2: Episode 1 Description
We are back with our second season! 🚀 In today’s episode: 🌍 Get caught up on why the world is talking about Afghanistan. 📚 Learn the history of the US's presence there from correspondent Pamela Kirkland. 🌬️ In the news round-up: Hurricane Ida's impact on New Orleans and some old, like really old coral. 🤖 And test your robotic know-how in today's Trivia on the Ten.
Sources for the episode:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/afghan-girls-robotics-team-competes-after-visa-obstacles/
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/25/media/disney-world-vaccine-union/index.html
Links
🌍 Learn more about Afghanistan (https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/geography/countries/article/afghanistan) and how to support Afghan refugees with these organizations:
Hello Future (https://www.hellofuture.io/ways-to-help), The 19th* ,(https://19thnews.org/2021/08/afghan-women-senate-letter/), Global Citizen (https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/ways-you-can-support-those-in-need-in-afghanistan/)
🌬️ Help out New Orleans as it recovers from Hurricane Ida https://www.nola.com/news/article_7d25c388-09ba-11ec-bbfe-6b7339037759.html
😱 Read more about the 400-year-old giant coral! https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/19/no-one-has-noticed-it-400-year-old-giant-coral-discovered-on-great-barrier-reef
📧 Do you have something to tell us? Email us at: hello@thetennews.com
📝 Sign up for The Ten News-letter!
📸 Join us on Instagram
TRANSCRIPT:
Bethany Van Delft 0:00
It's a Middle Eastern country smaller in size than the US state of Texas. Why is the whole world talking about Afghanistan? Today we'll talk about what's happening to the country and its people. I'm Bethany Van Delft, it's September 2nd, and this is the Ten News.
Various Voices 0:19
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Bethany Van Delft 0:27
This past month, the United States military officially withdrew or left Afghanistan, where they had been supporting the Afghan government in their fight against the Taliban, a radical religious group. So what does this all mean? Our correspondent Pamela Kirkland, is here to help us understand the context. And give us a look at what's going on in Afghanistan now.
Pamela Kirkland 0:52
Kimia Yousefi, an Olympic sprinter at the Tokyo games this year, didn't win a medal. But, she did have the honor of being the flag bearer for her country of Afghanistan. She was the first woman to hold the flag for the country. Now, she wonders if she might be the last. She and 1000s of other Afghan women and girls are now wondering what their futures will be, as the US leaves Afghanistan and the Taliban has taken over the government. Some people feel like we have a responsibility to stay. But why were we there in the first place, and who are the Taliban. The Taliban started as an extremely religious group that considered themselves patriots of Afghanistan. Islam is a religion practiced by over a billion people worldwide. And while the word Islam comes from the Arabic word for peace, the Taliban's beliefs took Islam to the extreme, including the belief that women are less important than men, and should not be allowed to work, go to school, and in some cases, even leave the house without a male family member. The Taliban controlled Afghanistan from 1996 until the US invasion of the country in 2001. The September 11th attack had just happened, and the US blamed the terrorist group Al Qaeda for it. Al Qaeda had been operating in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban. What started as a military operation and turned into America's longest war, at some point also became a mission to help the people of Afghanistan. The mission had its successes and failures. With the Taliban out of power, Afghanistan was able to hold its first presidential election in 2004. The number of girls who were able to attend school for the first time shot up. 37% of Afghan teenage girls are able to read today because of the progress that's been made. Women have joined the military, they've become police officers, held political positions. They've competed in the Olympics, all things that seemed unimaginable 20 years ago. On the flip side, 10's of 1000s of US troops, Afghans, and allies have died fighting. Although the US never officially declared war, getting troops out of Afghanistan has been a complicated issue for 19 years. And four US presidents, starting under President Bush and continuing under Obama, Trump, and now Biden. Each one has tried to figure out how to bring our troops home while making sure the country didn't slip back into Taliban control. President Biden announced earlier this year that all US troops would leave Afghanistan by September. It was a deal made under President Trump. But once the withdrawal started, what no one had planned on was the Taliban would be able to retake control of Afghanistan in less than a week. Now, things are unstable. To say the least. There was chaos and confusion as American troops prepared to leave and evacuate American citizens and Afghans who had supported the US mission for so long. Bombings at the airport as military boarded people onto planes. 13 US military members were killed, but not before helping hundreds of Afghan allies onto planes to get them to safety. With the US gone, Afghans feel like they have no way out. And with the Taliban having retaken control, people are afraid that all the progress that's been made for women and girls will be erased. The Taliban has said that women would be allowed to work and study but many are skeptical that will happen. After almost 20 years, without the US military on the ground, the future of Afghanistan is uncertain.
Bethany Van Delft 5:09
Thanks, Pamela. This is a very complicated situation. And we'll be keeping an eye on how things progress. There are many organizations taking action to help Afghan refugees, and we've listed a few on our website, www.thetennews.com. There are also some links to some sources to learn about Afghanistan and the history of the conflict.
Bethany Van Delft 5:34
Did you know that this episode is the official start of the second season of the Ten News podcast? No way! It's true. And we have a lot planned for a new season. A huge thank you to all of you who responded to our listener survey and gave us feedback on the show. Thank you so much! And guess what? It's never too late to tell us what you'd like us to cover in an episode or to be part of the show. You can always email us at hello@thetennews.com or leave us a voicemail, we love voicemails on our phone line. 877-10news that's 877 t e n n e w s. Now let's see what else is going on.
Bethany Van Delft 6:27
Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana this past Sunday as a category four storm. The Hurricane caused intense flooding and left all of New Orleans and 1,000s of other people in the state without power with winds of 150 miles per hour. Ida is considered the strongest storm to hit the state since the 1850s. It also hit the state on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a storm that caused major damage and loss of life 16 years ago. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration officially approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, with the official stamp of approval from the FDA, businesses may start to require vaccines for all of their employees. One place that it's already happening, Disneyworld, the Florida home of Mickey Mouse, announced that all its workers must be vaccinated by October 22nd. Oh Boy! Some exciting conservation news from down under, a group of scientists and members of a local community recently discovered a really old chunk of coral in Australia's Great Barrier Reef, old as in 438 years old, that makes it older than the United States. If corals could talk, this one would have stories to tell! And now for your...
Various Voices 7:59
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 8:02
Trivia on the Ten. The all-female Afghan robotics team, also known as the Afghan Dreamers became famous in 2017 when they traveled to the US for an international robotics competition. What type of robots did they create for the contest? Was it a) a welcoming robot that shook hands b) a color-minded robot that sorted blue and orange balls? or c) seeing a language robot that could translate the word hello?
Bethany Van Delft 8:41
Did you guess it? The answer is B! The international competition focused on creating a robot that could sort two different colored balls into different locations. The team was originally denied visas to travel to the US until President Trump intervened and approved their visit. This meant that the girls had only two weeks to get their robots ready for the competition, while other teams had four months. What!? And while the Afghan team didn't win the contest, their story attracted national attention and interest. This past week, attention was back on this group of engineering girls, when the foreign minister of Mexico helped five members of the team flee Afghanistan and safely travel to Mexico. Other team members were taken in by the country of Qatar. Excellent. The team is hard at work on a low-cost ventilator to help COVID patients right before they had to flee their country. Hopefully, they will be able to continue their work in their new homes. Boy, we could use it.
Bethany Van Delft 9:48
Time's up, but before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to the Ten News. Look out for our new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. You can go deeper into today's stories by visiting thetennews.com. The Ten News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeart Radio. The Ten News creative team is building robots and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Andrew Hall, and Nathalie Alonso. Pamela Kirkland contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to the Ten News. Welcome back! And, if I sound a little weird this episode, it's because I had some dental work done but I wanted to be here for you. Take away, floss your teeth... floss em!
