A Brazen and PRX series · 8 episodes

Kabul Falling

On 15 August 2021 the Taliban entered Kabul. A journalist, an interpreter, a father crossing the city on foot for his son: Afghans tell how they lived through the weeks that followed, and how they got out.

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Kabul Falling cover art

Kabul Falling is an eight-part narrative podcast from Brazen (then Project Brazen) and PRX, released from 1 August 2022, in which Afghans tell how they lived through the Taliban's return to Kabul on 15 August 2021 and the race to get out of the country. It is hosted by Nelufar Hedayat, a British-Afghan journalist whose own family fled Afghanistan when she was a child, and it was a 2022 Peabody Award nominee.

The story

In February 2020 the Trump administration agreed a timetable with the Taliban for American troops to leave Afghanistan. By the summer of 2021 the Taliban were taking provincial capitals one after another. Herat fell on 13 August. Two days later, on 15 August, Taliban fighters entered Kabul.

Kabul Falling follows a group of Afghans through those weeks. Ogai Wardak, a young journalist at ZAN TV, a channel run by and for women, goes to university that morning and comes home to a city that has changed hands. Abdul, a former interpreter for the CIA in Kandahar, has carried a Taliban threat letter since 2005 and is waiting on a visa. Tariq, who had worked on American projects, is in the centre of town when the news breaks and has to cross the city on foot to collect his four-year-old son from kindergarten. "The city was fallen, everybody was running," he says.

The airport becomes the only way out, and it is chaos. Fatima Faizi, who reported for The New York Times, spends hours in the crowds before she reaches a flight to Qatar. On 26 August a suicide bomber kills at least 170 Afghan civilians and 13 American service members at Abbey Gate, hours after Abdul's family is flown out. When the last American plane leaves on 30 August, others are still stranded. A robotics student, Rodaba, and a group of women cyclists escape by bus to Tajikistan. Muhammad Javed Khan, who worked for the Afghan government, is captured by the Taliban and tortured before he reaches the border.

The series also hears from a Taliban fighter, who speaks under an alias, and from Obaidullah Baheer, a university lecturer who chose to stay in Kabul. It ends a year later, with most of its people abroad and still worrying about the families they left behind.

Hear the story

The host, the composer and the team, from the making of the series. Tap a clip for sound.
Meet Nelufar Hedayat
More than 30 Afghans
The composer
So it isn’t forgotten
The embroidery
Watch

The soundtrack

Arson Fahim on composing the music for Kabul Falling, on the Brazen YouTube channel.

Watch on YouTube
Play Arson Fahim on the Kabul Falling soundtrack

Kabul Falling doesn’t feature any commentary from foreign policy wonks or academics – instead it’s all real stories from real people, and I think the show is better for it.

Episodes

Episode by episode

No. Title First released Length
Trailer Introducing Kabul Falling Before 1 August 2022, exact date not confirmed (now dated 19 October 2022 in the feed) 1:15
1 The Fall: Escape from Afghanistan Begins 1 August 2022 33:26
2 A Knock at the Door: The Taliban's Revenge in Afghanistan 1 August 2022 36:14
3 The Fortress: Life or Death in Afghanistan via WhatsApp 8 August 2022 40:02
4 The Explosion: Bombing at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan 15 August 2022 35:02
5 Land Route: Women of Afghanistan Find New Ways to Escape 22 August 2022 37:48
6 Terrible House: Survival in the Taliban's Afghanistan 29 August 2022 36:12
7 Why I Fight: a Taliban Fighter Speaks From Afghanistan 5 September 2022 39:07
8 Still Falling: Afghanistan, One Year Later 12 September 2022 54:33
Bonus Afghan-British journalist Nelufar Hedayat on Kabul Falling 2022 (exact date not confirmed) 11:42
Bonus Afghan Composer Arson Fahim On Kabul Falling Soundtrack 19 September 2022 17:45
Bonus One Family's Journey To Escape Afghanistan 26 September 2022 14:24
Bonus The Women Journalists Still Fighting on the Frontlines in Afghanistan 24 October 2022 13:10
Bonus Building a New Life After Escaping Afghanistan 10 November 2022 14:50
Bonus Arson Fahim: Kabul Falling composer nominated for Ambie award 31 January 2023 5:37
Bonus Refugees, art and healing with Me We International 16 February 2023 19:57

1. The Fall. The Taliban advance across Afghanistan through the summer of 2021 and enter Kabul on 15 August. Ogai, Abdul, the Fulbright student Belal and others describe the threats and the preparations to leave. The episode ends with Taliban fighters at the door of the house where Abdul's family is hiding.

2. A Knock at the Door. The roads to the airport jam as thousands try to get out. Abdul stays hidden; Javed is seized; Tariq walks across the city for his son, then fails to reach a flight with help from Jake Cusack, a former U.S. Marine who had been his boss.

3. The Fortress. As the 31 August deadline nears, the evacuation runs on WhatsApp messages and favours. Fatima Faizi gets inside the airport and onto a flight to Qatar. In Herat, Rodaba of the girls' robotics team and her brother look for a way out.

4. The Explosion. Tariq's family gets through the gates after a night outside, and Abdul's family flies out on 26 August, hours before the suicide bombing at Abbey Gate. Mary Bell of Team Themis, a volunteer group, is trying to get a group of women through the gates when the bomb goes off.

5. Land Route. With the airport closed to most Afghans, the journalist Danna Harman organises a bus to take Rodaba and a group of women cyclists to the Tajik border, where the journalist Anahita Saymidinova waits for them. One woman's husband is left behind.

6. Terrible House. The Taliban promise no retribution, but Javed is captured and tortured. With Danna Harman's help he reaches the Tajik border, turns back for his family's passports and finally flies out.

7. Why I Fight. A young Taliban fighter, who speaks under the alias Mujahid, explains why he left NGO work to join the movement. Obaidullah Baheer, a lecturer in transitional justice at the American University of Afghanistan, argues for reconciliation: "Let's drink this poison of peace."

8. Still Falling. A year on, the series catches up with its people in the United States, Canada and Ireland: who they blame, what they miss and what they fear for relatives still in Afghanistan. Fatima Faizi describes being shouted at about 9/11 on a train: "Nobody from Afghanistan hijacked the planes, nobody was involved in that incident, but we pay the highest price."

Bonus episodes. Bradley Hope talks to Nelufar Hedayat about making the series, and Siddhartha Mahanta talks to Arson Fahim about the score, in a conversation recorded at the PRX Podcast Garage in Boston. Lucy Woods interviews the Shakib family, separated as Kabul fell. Neha Wadekar talks to Zahra Joya, founder of Rukhshana Media, and to Rahman, a former acting general in the Afghan army, and Carly Sparkes of Azadi Charity. A short episode marks Fahim's Ambie nomination, and the last bonus, with Mohsin Mohi Ud Din of Me We International, is about art and refugees.

The people

Nelufar Hedayat. Host. A British-Afghan journalist who, she tells listeners, fled the civil war in Afghanistan with her family in 1994, when she was six. She has worked for the BBC, Channel 4, Netflix and The Guardian (Brazen on Instagram; Wikipedia).

Ogai Wardak. A journalist at ZAN TV in Kabul when the Taliban arrived. In Episode 8 she is in Dublin; her parents were still in Afghanistan.

Abdul. A former interpreter for the CIA in Kandahar who first received a Taliban threat letter in 2005. He and his family were flown out on 26 August 2021 and later settled in New York.

Tariq. A former contractor on American projects who walked across Kabul to collect his son, Sultan. He was evacuated with help from Jake Cusack and spent 45 days at Fort Pickett in Virginia.

Fatima Faizi. A journalist who had worked for The New York Times in Kabul. Evacuated through Qatar, she lives in New York, and she is also credited as an associate producer on the series.

Rodaba Noori. A university student in Herat and a member of an all-girls robotics team. She escaped overland to Tajikistan and later studied in North America.

Muhammad Javed Khan. A former Afghan government worker who was captured and tortured by the Taliban in September 2021. He spent more than seven months in Albania before reaching Canada.

Obaidullah Baheer. A lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan and the grandson of a feared warlord, who stayed in Kabul after the takeover.

Mujahid. The alias of the Taliban fighter in Episode 7. He did not have his commander's permission to speak to the media, so the series uses his alias, which means "the struggler".

Danna Harman and Anahita Saymidinova. Journalists who organised and received the bus convoy of women to Tajikistan.

Arson Fahim. Afghan pianist and composer who wrote the theme. He reached the United States two weeks before the Taliban took Kabul (feed description).

Timeline

  • February 2020. The United States agrees a timetable with the Taliban for the withdrawal of American troops (in the show).
  • 8 August 2021. Belal flies out of Kabul for his Fulbright scholarship (in the show).
  • 13 August 2021. The Taliban take Herat (in the show).
  • 15 August 2021. The Taliban enter Kabul (in the show).
  • 26 August 2021. Suicide bombing at Abbey Gate, Kabul airport (in the show).
  • 30 August 2021. The last American flight leaves Kabul; the women's bus convoy heads north for the Tajik border (in the show).
  • September 2021. Javed is captured by the Taliban (in the show).
  • 1 August 2022. Episodes 1 and 2 released (original episode list).
  • 12 September 2022. Episode 8, the last main episode, released.
  • 31 January 2023. Arson Fahim's Ambie nomination announced in a bonus episode (The Ambies).
  • April 2023. Kabul Falling named a nominee for the 2022 Peabody Awards (Peabody Awards).

What has happened since

  • 25 April 2023. The Pentagon said the Taliban had killed the Islamic State cell leader behind the Abbey Gate bombing (Denver Gazette).
  • March 2025. Mohammad Sharifullah, accused of helping plan the Abbey Gate attack, was arrested in Pakistan and brought to the United States (U.S. Department of Justice). On 16 September 2026 he was sentenced to 20 years for providing material support to ISIS-K (ABC News).
  • 2025. Pakistan restarted its plan to expel Afghans on 7 March (UNHCR, Pakistan), and Iran deported 344,900 Afghans in the first 16 days of July alone (UNHCR, Iran).
  • 12 May 2025. The U.S. government ended Temporary Protected Status for Afghans, effective in July (Department of Homeland Security).
  • 3 July 2025. Russia became the first country to recognise the Taliban government (Reuters).
  • 8 July 2025. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Taliban's supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, for gender persecution (ICC). On 5 October 2026 it unsealed that warrant and three others (AP).
  • November 2025. After an Afghan national was charged with shooting two National Guard soldiers in Washington, the U.S. halted immigration requests from Afghans and paused asylum decisions (NPR).

Questions

What is Kabul Falling about?

Kabul Falling is an eight-part podcast about the Taliban's return to Kabul on 15 August 2021, told by the Afghans who lived through it. It follows journalists, interpreters, students and a government aide through the weeks of the evacuation, and catches up with them a year later.

Who hosts Kabul Falling?

Nelufar Hedayat, a British-Afghan journalist. Her family fled the civil war in Afghanistan in 1994, when she was six.

Who made Kabul Falling?

Project Brazen, now Brazen, in partnership with PRX and with the audio company Audiation. The executive producers were Bradley Hope and Tom Wright.

How many episodes are there?

Eight main episodes, released from 1 August to 12 September 2022, plus a trailer and seven bonus episodes.

Is Kabul Falling a true story?

Yes. It is a documentary series. The people in it are Afghans who were interviewed for the series, and a few of them asked to be identified by a first name or a pseudonym for their safety.

Why do some people in the series use only first names?

Some of them still had family in Afghanistan, and some had worked with Western forces or governments. The series changed or shortened names where people asked it to.

What happened at Abbey Gate?

On 26 August 2021 a suicide bomber attacked crowds at Abbey Gate, one of the entrances to Kabul airport, during the evacuation. The series reports that at least 170 Afghan civilians and 13 American service members were killed. Episode 4 tells the story.

Did Kabul Falling win any awards?

It was a Peabody Award nominee for 2022. Its composer, Arson Fahim, was nominated for Best Original Score and Music Supervision at the 2023 Ambies.

Who wrote the music for Kabul Falling?

The theme was composed by Arson Fahim, an Afghan pianist and composer. Sound design, scoring and mixing were by Brad Stratton.

Where can I read the transcripts?

Transcripts of all eight episodes are on the series website, kabulfalling.com, with an interactive timeline and portraits of the interviewees by the Afghan artist Sara Rahmani.

Where should I start?

Start with Episode 1, The Fall. The episodes run in order and each one picks up where the last left off.

About the show
Title Kabul Falling
Publisher Brazen (produced as Project Brazen, in partnership with PRX)
Host Nelufar Hedayat, British-Afghan journalist and documentary presenter (Wikipedia)
First released 1 August 2022, Episodes 1 and 2 together, then weekly to Episode 8 on 12 September 2022 (original episode list)
Episodes A trailer, eight main episodes and seven bonus episodes, the last on 16 February 2023 (show feed)
Format Serial narrative documentary built from first-person testimony, about 33 to 55 minutes per episode
Rating 4.7 out of 5 from 24 ratings on Apple Podcasts, checked 12 November 2026 (Apple Podcasts)
Awards Peabody Award nominee, 2022 (Peabody Awards). The theme's composer, Arson Fahim, was nominated for Best Original Score and Music Supervision at the 2023 Ambies (The Ambies)
Companion site Transcripts, an interactive timeline and portraits of the interviewees at kabulfalling.com

Note on dates: podcast apps show the main episodes as published on 20 October 2022. That is the date the series moved to its current feed, not the original release. The original dates are the ones given here.

Credits

Kabul Falling is a Project Brazen production in partnership with PRX. Host: Nelufar Hedayat. Executive producers: Bradley Hope and Tom Wright. Executive producer for Audiation: Sandy Smallens. Managing producer: Lucy Woods. Producer: Ireland Meacham. Co-producer and story editor: Susie Armitage. Consulting producer: Siddhartha Mahanta. Associate producers: Dan Xin Huang, Fatima Faizi, Francesca Gilardi-Quadrio-Curzio and Neha Wadekar. Additional reporting: Nigel Walker. Translators include Hasan Azimi. Theme music: Arson Fahim. Sound design, scoring and mixing: Brad Stratton. Cover design: Ryan Ho and Jane Zisman, with embroidery by the women of Kandahar Treasure. Interviewee portraits: Sara Rahmani. (Credits as read in Episodes 1 and 8.)

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Last reviewed 12 November 2026.

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