“A fast paced mix of humour and heartbreak. The reader is assaulted with the sights, sounds and above all the smells of downtown Kabul in the months that followed the US invasion.” –Andy Home, author, Siberian Dreams
“Good Morning Afghanistan . . . Was an important start in bringing fast and uncensored information to the war-stricken people of Afghanistan.” –Hamid Karzai, president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
“Few changes have been more popular, with city dwellers and villagers alike listening in numbers that have stunned the young crew running the program from a dusty studio in Kabul . . . for many Afghans the show’s freewheeling style is an emblem of the improvements that have come with the end of the Taliban.” –New York Times
“A fast paced mix of humour and heartbreak. The reader is assaulted with the sights, sounds and above all the smells of downtown Kabul in the months that followed the US invasion.” Andy Home, author, “Siberian Dreams””
“”Good Morning Afghanistan” .” . .” Was an important start in bringing fast and uncensored information to the war-stricken people of Afghanistan.” Hamid Karzai, president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan”
“”Good Morning Afghanistan””. . .” Was an important start in bringing fast and uncensored information to the war-stricken people of Afghanistan.” –Hamid Karzai, president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
From the Author
This book is based on the true story behind the setting up of
`Good Morning Afghanistan’, an EC-funded project which I saw through
getting on air and then managed during its first year. All the incidents
narrated took place virtually as described; however, I have had to change
the names and combine certain characters, in places merging backgrounds and
altering minor details. This I have done at the behest of those involved to
protect their privacy and in some cases their identities in what remain
difficult times in Afghanistan.
I would like to thank all at GMA for the warmth and love with which they
accepted me. I would particularly like to thank Barry Salaam, Ramin
Ahmedyaar, John Murray, Colleen McLaughlin, Rachel Martin, Bent Nørby
Bonde, Ralph McMullen, Simon Drewsen Holmberg and not least Charles
Fletcher. It is difficult for anyone on the outside to appreciate the depth
of what we experienced together; living for three years in virtual
isolation from our own families, these friends and colleagues became a
surrogate family who shared with me all the highs and lows of a hardship
posting. This book is a tribute to them and the selfless way in which they
put their lives on hold to help rebuild a country which many hadn’t even
heard of prior to 9/11. I was fortunate to be awarded an OBE and Charles an
MBE in recognition of our work, but for me the real heroes will always be
the Afghans we worked with.
The time that I spent working in Kabul on GMA and several subsequent
projects remains the most professionally rewarding of my life and provided
me with the inspiration for this story. The people and their resilience
astounded me; in spite of all their suffering they always had smiles on
their faces. Their hospitality and generosity was a humbling experience
which I will cherish for ever. I pray that they find the peace and security
they so desperately need to pull their country back from the edge of
oblivion.
`Good Morning Afghanistan’ was an unprecedented project and only happened
because several visionary individuals at the Rapid Response Mechanism of
the EC in Brussels really believed in us and the concept. Andrea Ricci and
Nicolaas Schermers at RRM and Julian Wilson, the first head of the EC
delegation in Kabul need to be singled out for their championing of the
idea – I only wish there were more like them in the EC.
I would also like to thank Colin Marriott, Simon Whittaker, Kim Hudson,
Tjill Dreyer, Imam Chishty, Dr. Rehan ul-Haq and his wife Lubna S. Haq and
Bolette Kornum who provided me with valuable input throughout the painful
process of writing my first book. In that context, I have been fortunate in
finding a publisher and editorial team who really believed in what I was
trying to say. I must thank Dan Hiscocks and Tobias Steed at Eye Books who
not only believed in the story but also shared my vision of the greater
role of media as a positive force; Catriona Scott, for fulfilling a role in
shaping the book, a role that I now see as all too often overlooked in
publishing, with authors taking all the credit; David Whelan for the
wonderful cover and layouts, which have taken the simple words on a
manuscript and turned them into a real book; Laura Chastney for sacrificing
her Christmas break for making the endless changes to the typesetting and
last but not least, Pedro Carvalho at Fnik PR who was charged with the job
of making a book about Afghanistan sexy to the general public. I would
also like to thank writer, Nirmal Dass and literary agents Sugra Zaman and
James Wills at Watson Little for mentoring and guiding my writing through
the early painful stages.
I must also sincerely thank Warren Mountford, Peter Hutchinson, Lindsay
Osmond, Sheila Smither, Elizabeth Weaving, Ghazanfar Iqbal, Rebecca Evans
and the rest of the Emirates gang at Birmingham Airport who moved heaven
and earth not only to help me ship an entire studio to Afghanistan but
somehow always to find me and my team seats, often at the last minute, on
closed manifests, even if it meant sitting on the pilot’s lap! Thanks guys
– you really don’t know what it means to see you all at the gate whenever I
return from mission, and yes, buying a second ticket or flying business
class is always cheaper than paying your excess baggage charges!
I will be eternally grateful to my wife, Farah, and my two boys, Khurrum
and Khaiyyam, who put everything on hold for nine months while Baba wrote
his book.
A special word of thanks is due to Jeffrey Kroll who first inspired me to
write the GMA story and to share it with a wider audience.
And lastly, I wish to pay tribute to my father, Sultan Mahmood, who was one
of the most respected journalists of his generation and first planted the
writing seed in me. The endless hours of teaching me spelling and writing
skills were obviously not in vain. Thank you Dad!
Waseem Mahmood
Kabul
From the Inside Flap
IN A LAND WHERE women must be invisible, music is banned, books and films are burned, laughter is a p u n i s h a b l e o f f e n c e , a n d m u s e u m s a r e d e s t r o y e d because they have images that offend God’s law – how can life become bearable? History intervenes after 9/11, with the attack on Afghanistan, the fall of the Taliban, and an ensuing chaos. A group of media professionals respond by producing a radio station to disseminate much-needed information. What they end up providing is hope for a devastated land, and a voice for a people long smothered by oppression. They become instruments for a new dawn in Afghanistan. This is a story of struggle, cruelty and the effects of extreme dogma on the lives o f o r d i n a r y p e o p l e , b u t it is also about hope, and humankind’s ceaseless quest for the most precious of all things – freedom.
From the Back Cover
It is a time of chaos.
Afghanistan has just been liberated from the oppressive
Taliban. Warlords battle each other for supremacy,
while the powerless, the dispossessed, the hungry and
the desperate struggle to survive.
In these days and months of bleakness, suffering and
want, a glimmer of hope emerges – in the form of a
spirited little breakfast-time radio programme, Good
Morning Afghanistan. This book is a true account of
how a broken nation finds a voice through the radio.
Over the airwaves a land ravaged by decades of war
learns again what it means to live to be happy, to listen
to music, to laugh and to be joyful at all life’s colours.
The story of setting up this radio programme is filled
with heartbreak and triumph, tears and laughter,
despair – and endless hope.
“Good Morning Afghanistan… was an important start
in bringing fast and uncensored information to the warstricken
people of Afghanistan. The radio has served
the realisation of freedom of speech and democracy for
our country.”
HAMID KARZAI
President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
“Few changes have been more popular, with city dwellers
and villagers alike listening in numbers that have
stunned the young crew running the program from a
dusty studio in Kabul …. for many Afghans the show’s
freewheeling style is an emblem of the improvements
that have come with the end of the Taliban.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES
About the Author
Waseem Mahmood was the youngest ever producer for the BBC. He followed in his fathers footsteps and became a journalist of repute and reputation and was involved in the setting up of various Asian media. Recently he has become known as more of a media Robocop and worked in areas that have needed help in getting the media to impart information and help create a feeling of community.
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