New ep! A ton packed in this one about #TheOtherLatif’s time in Afghanistan, including intvws with a former detainee who gave intel on Abdul Latif, & a CIA officer who hunted bin Laden post 9/11. But the juiciest interview of all I didn’t even do.
wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radio…
The journalist @jonleeanderson was in Jalalabad, Afghanistan during the battle of Tora Bora, where Abdul Latif allegedly fought. Shortly after, around Christmas 2001, he got a chance no other journalist had: to interview two Al Qaeda guys in an Afghan prison.
@jonleeanderson A few days before, other Al Qaeda prisoners nearby had seized guns from their guards, killed them, tried to drive away with a transport bus, but lost control and overturned it. As Anderson says, “the atmosphere was murderous.”
@jonleeanderson Anderson was promised that the two Al Qaeda guys would be restrained and shackled, but when he entered the gates, the two guys were just standing in the courtyard, with a few sleepy guards nearby. Cautious, Anderson decided to do the interview anyway.
@jonleeanderson Only one prisoner is pictured. The other one wore a gray pakul cap, a camouflage jacket and US combat boots (!). He said he was from Casablanca, Morocco. It was our guy, Abdul Latif Nasser.
@jonleeanderson Listen to Episode 4 of #TheOtherLatif to hear what Abdul Latif said next, shockingly blunt words that did not go through a US government censor or his defense attorney. wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radio…
@jonleeanderson (You can also check it out by reading @jonleeanderson’s book, "The Lion’s Grave: Dispatches from Afghanistan." Pics above from the photographer who was there with him, © Thomas Dworzak/Magnum Photos)
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