{"id":790589,"date":"2022-09-02T20:53:58","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T20:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fair.org\/?p=9030142"},"modified":"2022-09-02T20:53:58","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T20:53:58","slug":"npr-devotes-almost-two-hours-to-afghanistan-over-two-weeks-and-30-seconds-to-us-starving-afghans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/09\/02\/npr-devotes-almost-two-hours-to-afghanistan-over-two-weeks-and-30-seconds-to-us-starving-afghans\/","title":{"rendered":"NPR Devotes Almost Two Hours to Afghanistan Over Two Weeks\u2014and 30 Seconds to US Starving Afghans"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NPR <\/b>ran several stories on Afghanistan to mark the anniversary of the August 2021 US withdrawal<\/a>, even sending host Steve Inskeep to the country to produce a series of pieces. His visit happened to coincide with Biden\u2019s claimed<\/a> assassination<\/a> of Ayman al-Zawahiri; Inskeep says<\/a> that he and his team were staying in close proximity to the Al Qaeda leader.<\/p>\n With the anniversary and assassination providing a renewed focus on Afghanistan, NPR<\/b> could have used this opportunity to call attention to the US policy of starving Afghanistan<\/a> by restricting its international trade activity and seizing<\/a> its central banking reserves. Instead, it briefly mentioned the catastrophe only one time, devoting a mere 30 seconds to it over two weeks. The reserve theft was mentioned once as well, and for less than 10 seconds.<\/p>\n Over the course of the series, between August 5 and August 19, 2022, NPR<\/b>‘s two flagship shows, Morning Edition<\/b> and All Things Considered<\/b>, aired 18 Afghanistan segments, amounting to some 114 minutes of coverage:<\/p>\n NPR<\/b> focused almost no attention on the hunger crisis and the US role in exacerbating it. The series instead focused on a question that’s important, but far less relevant to NPR<\/b>‘s US audience: \u201cWho is included<\/a> in the New Afghanistan?\u201d<\/p>\n FAIR (8\/9\/22<\/a>) has already criticized the initial piece (8\/5\/22<\/a>) for the historical framing NPR <\/b>used to contextualize the current situation in Afghanistan. Host Steve Inskeep misleadingly said<\/a> that the Taliban refused to turn over Al Qaeda’s Osama Bin Laden after 9\/11, and this \u201cled to the US attack.\u201d In reality, the Taliban repeatedly offered to put Bin Laden on trial or give him up to a third country both before<\/a> and after<\/a> the attacks.<\/p>\n Afghanistan is currently enduring misery under the onslaught of drought, famine and economic collapse: 95% of Afghans don\u2019t have enough to eat<\/a>, while acute hunger has spread<\/a> to half the population, an increase of 65% since last July. Conditions are so dire that some are being forced to boil grass<\/a> to sustain themselves.<\/p>\n Throughout NPR<\/b>\u2019s series, which centers mostly on the \u201cinclusivity\u201d question, the dire toll on Afghan civilians was an afterthought. None of the above stats were mentioned on air, and there was little attempt to connect the Afghan plight to deliberate US policy.\n
‘Tantamount to mass murder’<\/b>
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