9/13/21 Mathieu Aikins on the Recent US Drone Strike in Kabul and Life in Afghanistan Post-Withdrawal

9/13/21 Mathieu Aikins on the Recent US Drone Strike in Kabul and Life in Afghanistan Post-Withdrawal

Scott interviews journalist Mathieu Aikins who has remained in Kabul to report for the New York Times. Aikins and his team recently investigated the drone strike the U.S. carried out on August 29th that officials claimed had targeted a car carrying explosives believed to be driven by a member of ISIS. However, the team from NYT found a devastating scene with the bodies of children and a distraught family claiming to have just lost ten family members. Aikins and his colleagues were able to identify the man as Zemari Ahmadi. Ahmadi worked for a California-based aid organization and was trying to get his family on a plane out of Afghanistan when he and many of his children were killed. 

Discussed on the show:

  •  “Times Investigation: In U.S. Drone Strike, Evidence Suggests No ISIS Bomb” (New York Times)
  • “Examining a ‘righteous’ strike” (Washington Post)
  • “The Taliban’s Fight for Hearts and Minds” (Foreign Policy)

Mathieu Aikins is an international freelance journalist currently reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan. His upcoming book is The Naked Don’t Fear the Water: A Journey Through the Refugee Underground. Follow him on Twitter @mattaikins.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State and Why The Vietnam War?, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; EasyShip; Thc Hemp Spot; Green Mill Supercritical; Bug-A-Salt; Lorenzotti Coffee and Listen and Think Audio.

Shop Libertarian Institute merch or donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin: 1DZBZNJrxUhQhEzgDh7k8JXHXRjYu5tZiG.

About Scott Horton

Scott Horton is director of the Libertarian Institute, editorial director of Antiwar.com, host of Antiwar Radio on Pacifica, 90.7 FM KPFK in Los Angeles, California and podcasts the Scott Horton Show from ScottHorton.org. He's the author of the 2021 book Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism, the 2017 book, Fool's Errand:Time to End the War in Afghanistan, editor of the 2019 book The Great Ron Paul: The Scott Horton Show Interviews 2004–2019 and the 2022 book Hotter Than The Sun: Time to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. He’s conducted more than 6,000 interviews since 2003. Scott lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, Larisa Alexandrovna Horton.

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