Afghanistan with Roh Yakobi

Roh Yakobi

Keeping Afghanistan in the spotlight through the stories of its people.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. How the CIA Defeated the Soviets in Afghanistan | Milton Bearden (Part 1)

    2D AGO

    How the CIA Defeated the Soviets in Afghanistan | Milton Bearden (Part 1)

    Milton Bearden was the CIA officer tasked by Director William Casey in 1986 with using $1 billion and Stinger missiles to help drive Soviet forces out of Afghanistan, one of the most consequential covert operations of the Cold War. In this first part of a remarkable conversation, Bearden takes us inside the secret machinery of Operation Cyclone. He recounts how Washington shifted from simply "bleeding" the Soviets to pursuing outright victory, how the covert war was run through Pakistan's ISI, and how weapons and money were distributed among the fractious Mujahideen factions, none of them, by his own admission, above reproach. He describes training fighters in makeshift conditions in Rawalpindi: a white sheet, an infrared light, and a $200 room that outperformed the US Army's billion-dollar facility at Fort Bliss. He recounts the September 1986 Stinger strike outside Jalalabad that changed the course of the war overnight, and speaks candidly about his dealings with General Akhtar, a tense face-to-face with Hekmatyar, and the direct back-channel contacts with commanders that bypassed ISI oversight entirely. Bearden also reflects on corruption among commanders, the deliberate exclusion of the Hazaras, the Saudi dollar-for-dollar funding match that doubled the war chest, and why he believes the only measure that ever truly mattered was whether the Soviets left. They did. On February 15, 1989, General Boris Gromov crossed the Friendship Bridge and the war was won. A rare, unfiltered account from the man who helped run one of the most consequential covert operations of the Cold War. 👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends 📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTube Producer | Host: Roh Yakobi Assistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat Yakobi Music ©: Dawood Sarkhosh Email: hello@rohyakobi.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rohyakobi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theafgpod X: https://x.com/theafgpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    34 min
  2. Inside The Secret CIA Mission that Toppled the Taliban - Justin Sapp (Part 3)

    MAR 8

    Inside The Secret CIA Mission that Toppled the Taliban - Justin Sapp (Part 3)

    Former U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Beret) and Team Alpha member Justin Sapp recounts his role in the clandestine CIA mission that landed behind Taliban lines immediately after 9/11. He describes working alongside General Dostum and later travelling to Bamiyan to meet Karim Khalili and help organise forces to retake the region. Justin details witnessing the aftermath of Taliban savagery against Hazara communities. After Team Alpha, he served multiple deployments in other theatres, and through personal stories and reflections looks back on how an early military success evolved into a far longer and more complicated conflict than anyone expected. 👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends 📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTube Producer | Host: Roh Yakobi Assistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat Yakobi Music ©: Dawood Sarkhosh Email: hello@rohyakobi.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rohyakobi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theafgpod X: https://x.com/theafgpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    40 min
  3. Mark Urban: I Marched Into Kabul with Ahmad Shah Massoud (E34)

    FEB 20

    Mark Urban: I Marched Into Kabul with Ahmad Shah Massoud (E34)

    Mark Urban is a British journalist, broadcaster, and best-selling author of many books, including War in Afghanistan and The Skripal Files. He has covered Afghanistan extensively since the late 1980s, witnessing firsthand the withdrawal of Soviet forces, accompanying Ahmad Shah Massoud as he took Kabul in 1992, and other key events. In this interview, he shares his stories of the country and his thoughts on its future, as well the impacts of the West's failure. 📺 Watch on YouTube. Producer: Roh Yakobi Music ©: Dawood Sarkhosh Email: hello@rohyakobi.com Instagram: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi X: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 5m
  4. Inside the Secret CIA Mission That Toppled the Taliban - Justin Sapp (Part 2)

    FEB 16

    Inside the Secret CIA Mission That Toppled the Taliban - Justin Sapp (Part 2)

    Former U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Beret) and Team Alpha member Justin Sapp recounts his role in the clandestine CIA mission that landed behind Taliban lines immediately after 9/11. He describes working alongside General Dostum and later travelling to Bamiyan to meet Karim Khalili and help organise forces to retake the region. Justin details witnessing the aftermath of Taliban savagery against Hazara communities. After Team Alpha, he served multiple deployments in other theatres, and through personal stories and reflections looks back on how an early military success evolved into a far longer and more complicated conflict than anyone expected. 👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends 📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTube Producer | Host: Roh Yakobi Assistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat Yakobi Music ©: Dawood Sarkhosh Email: hello@rohyakobi.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rohyakobi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theafgpod X: https://x.com/theafgpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    32 min
  5. Inside the Secret CIA Mission That Toppled the Taliban - Justin Sapp (Part 1)

    FEB 8

    Inside the Secret CIA Mission That Toppled the Taliban - Justin Sapp (Part 1)

    Former U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Beret) and Team Alpha member Justin Sapp recounts his role in the clandestine CIA mission that landed behind Taliban lines immediately after 9/11. He describes working alongside General Dostum and later travelling to Bamiyan to meet Karim Khalili and help organise forces to retake the region. Justin details witnessing the aftermath of Taliban savagery against Hazara communities. After Team Alpha, he served multiple deployments in other theatres, and through personal stories and reflections looks back on how an early military success evolved into a far longer and more complicated conflict than anyone expected. 👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends 📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTube Producer | Host: Roh Yakobi Assistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat Yakobi Music ©: Dawood Sarkhosh Email: hello@rohyakobi.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rohyakobi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theafgpod X: https://x.com/theafgpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    28 min
  6. Tom Tugendhat: The pain and costs of our defeat in Afghanistan (E69)

    JAN 10

    Tom Tugendhat: The pain and costs of our defeat in Afghanistan (E69)

    Tom Tugendhat is a British Member of Parliament and former Security Minister who served multiple tours in Afghanistan in various civilian and military capacities. In this exclusive interview, Tom speaks with unusual bluntness about the war’s outcome, rejecting euphemism and insisting that the West was decisively defeated. He argues that this was not the product of inevitability or fate, but of political choices, strategic incoherence, and a failure to take responsibility for loss. Alongside this analysis, he tells personal stories of people he served with and encountered in Afghanistan, explaining why he remains deeply fond of them and why their courage, loyalty, and sacrifice continue to matter to him. He also steps back to offer a broader strategic reading of the present moment, warning that Afghanistan reshaped how the world now judges Western resolve, credibility, and seriousness — with consequences that reach far beyond the country itself. 👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends 📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTube Producer | Host: Roh Yakobi Assistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat Yakobi Music ©: Dawood Sarkhosh Email: hello@rohyakobi.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rohyakobi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theafgpod X: https://x.com/theafgpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 3m
  7. Charlie Gammell: How I fell in love with Herat (E68)

    12/20/2025

    Charlie Gammell: How I fell in love with Herat (E68)

    Charlie Gammell is a former British diplomat, author and historian who has worked extensively in Afghanistan and Iran. Speaking fluent Farsi and Pashto, with Herati and Khosti accents, Charlie reflects on his time in Afghanistan, how he fell in love with Herat and its history, and why he wrote 'The Pearl of Khorasan: A History of Herat'. 👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends 📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTube Producer | Host: Roh Yakobi Assistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat Yakobi Music ©: Dawood Sarkhosh Email: hello@rohyakobi.com Instagram: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    47 min
  8. James Cowan: From Helmand to HALO - a British Commander’s Remarkable Afghanistan Story (E67)

    11/29/2025

    James Cowan: From Helmand to HALO - a British Commander’s Remarkable Afghanistan Story (E67)

    James Cowan has seen Afghanistan at its most intense: the frozen, “medieval” Kabul he first stepped into after the Taliban’s fall in 2001, the brutal peak of the NATO campaign in Helmand, and the country’s stunning collapse two decades later. He later took on a very different mission as head of the Halo Trust, working to clear the country of the deadly remnants of its wars. In this interview, he retraces that journey — from fighting the Taliban on the front lines to now negotiating with them so his teams can clear landmines and save lives. With rare candour, he reflects on the war, its cost, and the stark realities facing Afghanistan today. 👍🏼 Support the show: Leave stars, comments, share with friends 📺 Watch/Subscribe on YouTube Producer | Host: Roh Yakobi Assistant Producer/Researcher: Sa-aadat Yakobi Music ©: Dawood Sarkhosh Email: hello@rohyakobi.com Instagram: @TheAfgPod & @RohYakobi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    47 min
See All (73)

4.9
out of 5
14 Ratings

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Keeping Afghanistan in the spotlight through the stories of its people.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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