Digital Dunkirk Saved This Afghan Refugee. This is Khyber's Story.
Part of the new generation of Afghans, this refugee eyes the East and hopes to one day return to fight for the only home he's ever known.
This Week: Listen to the harrowing story of an Afghan interpreter who fled hours before the Taliban came to kill him. Hamidullah Khyber was one of the few U.S. allies who made it out during the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban. With the help of Ret. Army Colonel Sean Seibert, Khyber and his family made it out and is now settling in London. Part of the new generation of Afghans, 32-year-old Khyber eyes the East and hopes to one day return to fight for the only home he has ever known.
Hosted by Shireen Qudosi:
Shireen Qudosi is a writer and speaker on faith, identity, and belonging. She’s one of the leading North American Muslim Reformers. Her work has been published in The Federalist, Women in the World, Clarion Project, The Middle East Forum, and more. Her keynote writings also include an in-depth assessment on the War on Terror through the lens of WWII and a two-hour exclusive interview with radical Imam Abu Taubah, who was linked to Orlando Shooter Omar Mateen. In 2016, Shireen testified before the House Homeland Security Committee Hearing on radical Islam, offering a powerful testimony that tied the current crisis to Islam’s origin story. “Original Islam” is a theme that runs through the veins of her work, and is central to the book project she is pursuing. In 2017, Shireen launched a petition against Davis hate imam Ammar Shahin, which broadened into a small movement in 2018. She carried her message on hate imams in Never Again is Now, a documentary by filmmaker Evelyn Markus, on the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe and the United States. In 2019, she bridged her experience in reform to ally with former extremists and develop a training series on preventing violent extremism. In 2020, she launched two simultaneous podcasts, Belonging and Endeavor Against Extremism, available on SoundCloud. Shireen’s experience has given her insight in forecasting where the conversation among the world’s leading secular and religious Islamic leaders is heading. She is also deeply interested in personal narratives as instruments for change. As a former refugee raised across three continents, she has a unique perspective of the issues facing the U.S. and global Muslim community. In 2011, Shireen was named one of the top ten North American Muslim Reformers by journalist Christine Williams.