Radio Free Afghanistan: A Twenty-Year Odyssey for an Independent Voice in Kabul

Mohseni discusses founding and running Afghanistan’s largest independent media company in this engrossing memoir. When Mohseni was 12, he and his family fled Afghanistan for Japan after the 1978 Saur Revolution. In 2002, after an interim government was established following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Mohseni abandoned his banking career to return home with his three siblings. While the four initially considered launching an almond exporting business, a meeting with a former colleague of their father’s convinced them to start a radio station instead. In 2003, Mohseni and his siblings launched Arman FM, which played pop music banned during Taliban rule, then parlayed its success into a media company called the Moby Group that included TV networks airing news programs and soap operas. While running down Moby’s programming, including hit man-on-the-street radio show Cleaning up the City, Mohseni highlights the issues facing average Afghans, ranging from garbage collection to concerns about corruption in the country’s post-Taliban government. In 2022, after U.S. troops withdrew and the Taliban regained control, Moby was forced to curtail its news coverage. Throughout, Mohseni nimbly balances moving reflections on his connection to his homeland with fascinating insider information on running a media empire. It’s a fascinating firsthand lens on 21st-century Afghanistan. Agent: Amanda Urban, CAA. (Sept.)