Mahpekay Sediqy

09/08/20 • 52 min

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Mahpekay Sediqy is the deputy director at the Kabul Orthopaedic Organisation (KOO) in Afghanistan's capital and a bilateral amputee, herself.
Sediqy lost both legs to a mine while collecting firewood as a child during the Taliban's time in power in that late 1990s. She had never aspired to anything more than completing sixth class at school but, following her accident, Sediqy was taken under the wing of KOO's director at the time and has since gone on to complete a bachelor's degree in prosthetics and orthotics and helped hundreds of people with physical disabilities to walk, some for the first time.
Sediqy grew up in a rural district of Kabul called Qarabagh, which is, while close to Kabul City in proximity, a long way away in terms of the cultural modernisation that has characterised the Afghan capital since 2001. While the government nominally controls Qarabagh, the Taliban’s presence and influence there is famously strong.

In this episode, we talk about Sediqy’s struggle to come to terms with her horrific injury, and the new lease on life she found upon discovering the possibilities that lay before her; possibilities she’d never imagined, even before she lost her legs.

We also talk about the cultural issues and the daily barrage of harassment as she’s had to confront and endure as she's progressed through life, both personally and professionally.

We also talk about the cultural issues and the daily barrage of harassment as she’s had to confront and endure as she's progressed through life, both personally and professionally.

Next Episode

Rahmatullah Amiri

I first met Rahmatullah Amiri as he was being wheeled into an operating theatre in Kabul one night in August 2016.

A few hours earlier, Amiri was in an evening class at the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) when three gunmen stormed the compound after breaching the front gate with a car bomb. 13 students, teachers and security staff were killed in the attack. 49 others were injured, including Amiri, who was shot three times.

Amiri survived the night and, after undergoing several surgeries, and completing his bachelor’s degree in political science and public administration from AUAF, has gone on to become one of the most sought after researchers and analysts on matters of the Taliban. If you’ve read a major, public report on the Taliban in recent years, chances are Amiri had something to do with it.

Our conversation covers the nature of the Taliban’s relationship with al Qaeda and other international jihadist groups, the question of who the Taliban need to be negotiating with in order for a political settlement to be effective, the policies the group has and has not implemented, and how they’ve affected the Taliban’s appeal amongst the public.

We talk about how the idea of Sharia law is broadly misinterpreted and used, both as a justification for the Taliban's own authoritarian policies and as a propaganda tool against it, about issues Amiri believes the Taliban need to reconsider their positions on, the tremendous losses suffered by rural communities since 2001, and how the Taliban are relentless in their fight, not because they want an end to air strikes and night raids, but because they want to honour the sacrifices made and simply because they want foreign forces gone.