The War Podcast

This week, we talk to Kamel Karwan Mokamel, who spent most of his adult life outside Afghanistan as a refugee in Pakistan and then as a Canadian citizen due to imposed civil war in his country. He talks to us about the decisions driven by war that shaped his life to this day Kamel was a first year medical student when he had to leave Afghanistan and that left a scar that he believes still hasn't healed.

In this episode, we talk to Hafasa Issa who - like many other Afghans - had to leave a very promising life behind and migrate to another country starting everything from scratch, when everything was stacked against her. A story of resilience, hope and optimism through the darkness of the unknown.

This week we talk to David Katz, PHD, a former US Foreign Service Officer, who was in the thick of things through multiple regime changes in Afghanistan and brings a unique and realistic perspective to the historical lens of Afghanistan. David Katz separated from the U.S. Department of State, August 31, 2014. He received his PhD in Anthropology (UCLA 1982) based in part on a dissertation that drew on two years of independent ethnographic research he conducted in the Waygal Valley, Nuristan, eastern Afghanistan, during the mid-70s. After entering the Foreign Service in 1984, he had assignments in Iceland, Afghanistan (during the Soviet Occupation), Yemen, Estonia, Pakistan, and Eritrea. He also served as a Civilian Observer with the Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai, Egypt. During his career Dr. Katz had five assignments spanning more than seven years where he served as a civilian in military organizations. He deepened his regional experience during the more than 10 years that he dealt with Pakistan and Afghanistan, both in Washington and abroad. In addition to his assignment at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan during the Soviet Occupation (1986-87), he served as the Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate, Peshawar, Pakistan (1999-2002); Deputy Director, Office of Pakistan and Bangladesh, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs (2004-6); as the State Department representative which established a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan's Nuristan Province, (2006-7), and as the Deputy (to a U.K. major general), Force Reintegration Cell, at ISAF Headquarters, Kabul, Afghanistan (2009-2011).