Opium, child brides, drug lords and their effect on life in Afghanistan is the topic of this weekâs Radio Curious in conversation with Afghan-American Journalist Fariba Nawa, author of âOpium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords and One Womanâs Journey Through Afghanistan.â
Barry Vogel, Attorney and Counselor, is the Host and Producer of Radio Curious. Christina Aanestad is the Assistant Producer.
Imagine Darya, a twelve year old girl in a remote village of Afghanistan. Her father forces her to marry a drug lord as part payment for an opium drug trade. Her father is not home and she is about to be taken from her family. Desperately, her hands trembling, she implores you, a complete stranger: âPlease donât let him take me.â
In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with Fariba Nawa, author of âOpium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords and One Womanâs Journey Through Afghanistan.â Fariba Nawa was ten years old when her family fled Afghanistan shortly before the Soviet invasion in 1979. Eighteen years later Fariba Nawa met twelve year old Darya when she returned to her native Afghanistan as an Afghan-American investigative journalist. Her book tells Daryaâs story, and reveals what the Afghan opium drug trade is doing to her native land in the midst of war.
Fariba Nawa and I visited by phone from her home near San Francisco, California on January 23, 2012. We began with her description of coming to the United States and flight from Afghanistan.
Fariba Nawa's website is www.faribanawa.com. The book she recommends is âDay of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love and War,â by Annia Ciezaldo.
Radio Curious is a half-hour, weekly, long-form interview program, now in it's 25th year. We interview people on a curiously wide variety of topics about life and ideas. Our website is www.radiocurious.org. If your station airs Radio Curious please let us know curious@radiocurious.org, we will add you to our list of syndicate stations. We also welcome questions, feedback and program ideas. Radio Curious 280 N. Oak St. Ukiah, Ca 95482. (707) 462-6541.
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