Radio has been a crucial service in Afghanistan during the present tensions, providing information and entertainment to a populace starved of other media outlets. The BBC first broadcast a soap opera to Afghanistan in 1994 even though the audience did not even understand the concept of ‘episodes’ or the tradition of the cliffhanger ending. Now, with 35 million listeners, the show is so popular that the Taliban regime dropped plans to outlaw radio in the same was as they outlawed the internet and television.

With the Taliban out of power as of this week, the people will again seek other media, but the power of radio has been well and truly established in that country and is sure to be used by future governments and peacekeepers as a force to rebuild the nation.