KABUL FALLING explores big questions: How does a war end? Who is accountable for the human wreckage left in its wake? In the face of massive systemic failures by the U.S. and Afghan governments, ordinary people did what they could to help each other survive. What they couldn’t do — and what they lived through — still haunts them. KABUL FALLING grapples with the aftermath of the fall, exploring feelings of loss, abandonment, betrayal, and survivor’s guilt as Afghans work to rebuild their lives.

This is the story of a home ripped apart and of a courageous new beginning.

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From the team that brought you Fat Leonard and Resistance: Stories from Ukraine, KABUL FALLING is a production of Project Brazen in partnership with PRX.

Project Brazen is a global journalism studio and production company specializing in ambitious fact-based narratives. They deliver thrilling stories via podcasts, books, documentaries, television shows and films.

The company was founded in Singapore in 2021 by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, former colleagues at the Wall Street Journal and co-authors of Billion Dollar Whale.

PRX Productions is a team of audio directors, editors, sound designers, engineers and producers that specialize in the highest quality audio production and storytelling. We help make audio in all forms: podcasts, broadcast shows, experiential audio, and sonic identifiers for our partners.

Audiation is sound, inspired. Founded in 2016 by musician and digital entertainment pioneer Sandy Smallens, the New York-based podcast company has given voice to the boldest creators and biggest brands around the globe.

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A team spanning four continents interviewed dozens of people, including some still on the ground in Afghanistan. Meet some of our special contributors:

Nelufar Hedayat, the host, is an Afghan-British journalist who fled the Taliban regime as a child with her family in the 1990s. Nelufar has worked for the BBC, Channel 4, Netflix and The Guardian covering breaking news, live events and in-depth investigations in some of the world’s most dangerous places. Much of her work focuses on the cultural upheaval experienced by women, children, and families during conflict, especially in her native Afghanistan.

The women of Kandahar Treasure — a cooperative of embroiderers which promotes a unique and traditional art form to create income sources for women in Afghanistan — created the original embroidery featured on the show’s cover, designed by Ryan Ho and Jane Zisman. The traditional fine needle embroidery called “khamak” is a trademark of Kandahar women. You can purchase some of their creations here.

Arson Fahim composed Kabul Falling’s original score, performed on traditional Afghan instruments. Arson was born a refugee and spent some of his childhood in an orphanage for Afghan children in Pakistan. He was just five years old when he first saw Roman Polanski’s ‘The Pianist,’ a film about a gifted musician who survives the Holocaust, which sparked his journey to becoming a pianist, composer and conductor.

To compose the theme and score for KABUL FALLING, Arson brought together a far-flung collection of performers, including a full orchestra in Prague, and tabla, rubab (Afghanistan’s national instrument) and flute players recorded in studios in Hamburg and elsewhere:

- Kabul Falling Original Score

Sara Rahmani, an Afghan artist living in the US, has painted some of the people featured in the podcast. The website for Kabul Falling features rich additional content on some 40 people, including profiles, photographs and videos captured during the fall of Kabul.

K.K, an award-winning filmmaker from Kabul, edited the video trailer.

Neha Wadekar and Ryan Ho designed and built the website.