December 4, 2003

California Teen Reports From Afghanistan
NPR News 91 To Feature Story Dec. 14 and 19

What happens when an American teenager moves from the Bay Area to the governor’s compound in rural Afghanistan? Hyder Akbar, an 18-year-old Afghan-American, spent the summer of 2003 in Kunar, one of Afghanistan’s most volatile regions. He took a minidisc recorder to document his experiences, recording even as he ducked for cover on the floor of a U.S. Special Forces Humvee during a 20-minute ambush. Boise State Radio’s NPR News 91 will broadcast Hyder’s extraordinary recordings on the national program, This American Life, hosted and produced by Ira Glass, at 2 p.m. Dec. 14 and 19. These dates coincide with the convention at which Afghans will ratify their new constitution. Hyder’s powerful work of first-person journalism includes an eyewitness account of a secret U.S. military interrogation of suspected terrorist Abdul Wali, who later died. Wali remains one of only three prisoners to die while being held by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and Hyder became personally involved in the aftermath of his mysterious death. Last spring, Hyder’s father was appointed governor of Kunar, a rural province with a lingering Al Qaeda presence that borders the tribal regions of Pakistan. Hyder joined his father and his uncle, a one-eyed war-hero, in Kunar in June. Because Hyder speaks fluent Pashto, he became an unofficial teenage embed, traveling with and translating for the U.S. Special Forces while recording their interactions with the Afghan villagers they mean to liberate and protect. In addition to providing an unusual glimpse of the U.S. military at work, Hyder discovers that the reality of Afghanistan is much different than what has been reported. He witnesses Afghanistan’s newest challenge, something barely noted in the American media: the return to power of Afghan Communists. Hyder interviews survivors of a little-known 1979 massacre during which Afghan Communists gunned down 1,200 people in, it is said, a half-hour. Standing atop the mass grave, a survivor bursts into tears and explains to Hyder how the ground underneath shook with people buried alive, trying to get out. Before Sept. 11, 2001, Hyder lived the life of a regular American high school kid: he hung out with his buddies, listened to U2, shopped at Banana Republic. But then everything changed. Hyder’s father, a scion of an Afghan political family, sold the family business and left for Afghanistan where he became President Hamid Karzai’s chief spokesman. Hyder joined his father in Kabul for several months during the summer of 2002. Recordings he made in Kabul were turned into an award-winning documentary, Come Back to Afghanistan, which aired on This American Life in February 2003. Hyder is the first American teenager to spend significant time in Afghanistan as a civilian. He provides a personal and accessible perspective into a country that many Americans still think of as backwards, full of caves and bearded holy warriors. He is also one of few people to have witnessed the reconstruction of Afghanistan (or lack thereof) from both Kabul and the countryside. He sat with President Karzai in his office and with jailed Al Qaeda suspects in one of Afghanistan’s most remote regions. From palaces to prisons, Hyder’s experience of the country is uniquely complete. Hyder is now back in the States, attending college in California. This American Life, produced by Chicago Public Radio and distributed by Public Radio International, can be heard on NPR News 91 at 2 p.m. Sundays and Fridays on 91.5 FM Boise, 90.7 FM McCall, 91.1 FM Sun Valley, 91.3 FM Jackpot, NV, and 88.5 FM Burley. Boise State Radio is a listener-supported service of Boise State University and can be found on the Web at �http://radio.boisestate.edu. -30- Contact Jim East Associate General Manager, Network Programming Voice: 208 947-5659 Fax: 208 344-6631 jeast@boisestate.edu Media Contact Kathleen Craven communications and marketing 208 426-3275 kcraven@boisestate.edu