In 2004, Joel Hafvenstein went to Afghanistan as part of an aid program to help Afghan opium farmers find alternative ways to make money. Predictably, the program ran into resistance from the area’s drug trafficking warlords, and responded with ambushes. Within just a few months, nine of his colleagues were dead.
He’s our guest today to talk about his time in Afghanistan, which is chronicled in the new book Opium Season: A Year on the Afghan Frontier. It’s a really exciting account of his time there, and a quite educational story about the complexities of Afghan society and the larger issue of the problems present in U.S. attempts to bring aid to foreign countries.
So join us, to hear this fascinating story….
-Jessica
