9. The power couple

A Wish for Afghanistan

Oct 27 2021 • 26 mins

An eyewitness account from the presidential palace as the Taliban encircle Kabul.

He was the president’s chief of staff, she was the ambassador in Washington. Both were appointed by President Ghani: Matin Bek, the son of a warlord, and Adela Raz, the daughter of an intellectual. They were Afghanistan’s ultimate power couple. Matin was in the presidential palace the day the capital fell to the Taliban. He describes the moment he realised, uncomprehending, that the president had fled. The palace, he says, was “the safest place in Afghanistan” that day. Adela, in Washington, had just woken up when she realised that something was terribly wrong. “Get out now,” she told her husband. Matin’s assessment looking back on the past few years: “The government failed and I was part of it.”

You Might Like

The Daily
The Daily
The New York Times
The Dan Bongino Show
The Dan Bongino Show
Cumulus Podcast Network | Dan Bongino
WSJ What’s News
WSJ What’s News
The Wall Street Journal
Serial
Serial
Serial Productions & The New York Times
Morning Joe
Morning Joe
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC
Pod Save America
Pod Save America
Crooked Media
The Glenn Beck Program
The Glenn Beck Program
Blaze Podcast Network
Mark Levin Podcast
Mark Levin Podcast
Cumulus Podcast Network
The Ben Shapiro Show
The Ben Shapiro Show
The Daily Wire
WSJ Your Money Briefing
WSJ Your Money Briefing
The Wall Street Journal
The Rachel Maddow Show
The Rachel Maddow Show
Rachel Maddow, MSNBC
Morning Wire
Morning Wire
The Daily Wire
The Fox News Rundown
The Fox News Rundown
FOX News Radio
Start Here
Start Here
ABC News
The Matt Walsh Show
The Matt Walsh Show
The Daily Wire