‘ENOUGH of games of foreign powers in Afghanistan!’ – Former Afghan finance minister Dr. Omar Zakhilwal (E1061)
On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Dr. Omar Zakhilwal, former minister of finance under former President Hamid Karzai, and former ambassador to Pakistan. He discusses his opinions on the G20 summit and his hopes for more humanitarian aid as Afghanistan’s humanitarian and economic crisis spirals out of control, Joe Biden’s personal feelings on US policy towards Afghanistan, and what we can expect US policy to be towards Afghanistan for the rest of Biden’s presidency, the rise of ISIS-K and how Donald Trump’s use of the Mother of All Bombs (MOAB) on Afghanistan drove up recruitment for the group, his personal horrific experiences with ISIS-K, his opposition to any further foreign armed interventions or armed support for resistance groups, and the international community’s obligation to aid Afghanistan after years of interference and bloodshed.
Finally, we speak to Prof. Tim Jackson, author of ‘Post-Growth: Life After Capitalism’. He discusses why the GDP metric is deeply flawed in measuring the health and quality of an economy and society, the trend of decline of economic growth in Western economies such as the UK, his arguments for a radically different labour culture in which production is slowed down and lessened, the myth of ‘more is better’ that the obsession with GDP has created, the negative social impacts stemming from governments’ plans for constant economic growth, Boris Johnson’s comments that capitalism has been key in the UK’s coronavirus response and vaccine rollout, and much more!
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