The “Mother of All Bombs” is the nickname for the bomb the US dropped Thursday on Afghanistan, but our guests in Kabul say civilians there are asking if any mother would conduct such an attack. Basir Bita is a mentor with Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers, and Dr. Hakim is a medical doctor who has provided humanitarian relief in Afghanistan for over a decade. He works with Afghan Peace Volunteers, an inter-ethnic group of young Afghans dedicated to building nonviolent alternatives to war. We are also joined by Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, who is just back from Afghanistan, and Wazhmah Osman, professor of media and communication at Temple University and member of the Afghan American Artists and Writers Association.
TRANSCRIPT
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman. It’s called “The Mother of All Bombs.” That’s what the US just dropped on Afghanistan, the most powerful non-nuclear bomb ever released in the history of the world. It was unleashed — unleashed an explosion equivalent to 11 tons of TNT, its blast radius one mile wide. We’re in studio with Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, just back from Afghanistan, and Wazhmah Osman, Temple University professor of media, culture and communication.
We are joined in Kabul by two guests. They’re standing with their backs to the camera to conceal the identity. Basir Bita is a mentor with Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers, and Dr. Hakim is a medical doctor who’s provided humanitarian relief in Afghanistan for over a decade, working for Afghan Peace Volunteers, the inter-ethnic group of young Afghans dedicated to building nonviolent alternatives to war.
We welcome you all to Democracy Now! I’m sorry we cannot see your face. In fact, Dr. Hakim, we’ve had you on in profile before. Talk about why you don’t want your face to be seen.
DR. HAKIM: There are security concerns here. But, Amy, thank you for having us on the show. My worries are really the…