211 - Naweed Kawusi

In this episode of Crossing Faiths, John Pinna speaks with Naweed Kawusi, a former Colonel in the Afghan National Army and author of The Bleeding Nation, about his harrowing escape from Afghanistan during the 2021 collapse and his transition to life in Brazil. The conversation delves into the complex history of foreign intervention in Afghanistan, with Kawusi arguing that the nation’s "Gordian knot" of problems stems from a cycle of ethnic grievances and reliance on external benefactors rather than internal accountability. They explore the failures of the previous Republic, the self-interested legacy of Afghan warlords, and the strategic nature of the current Taliban regime. Ultimately, Kawusi emphasizes that long-term stability requires a shift away from "quick wins" and toward grassroots education and a unified Afghan identity that transcends historical divisions and foreign agendas. Naweed is a retired colonel who served with the Afghanistan National Defense and Security Forces, beginning with the Afghan Commandos in 2002 and then again from 2019 with the Afghanistan National Police. Before the fall of Kabul in 2021, he oversaw support and outreach to over 130,000 police families across Afghanistan's 34 provinces. Before that, he served as Director General of International Cooperation at Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior, where he led the ministry's development effort in rebuilding the Afghanistan National Police within the mandate of the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA), a 22-nation reconstruction fund. He founded the Kabul Institute, an Afghan-led policy and research organization focused on governance, accountability, and peacebuilding in Afghanistan, and teaches at the University of São Paulo. He is the author of The Bleeding Nation: Superpowers, Ethnic Politics, and Afghanistan's Collapse and The Brave and the Corrupt, forthcoming by McFarland Publishers. Naweed also serves as COO of EOPA (Elected Officials to Protect America), where he oversees the organization's overall operations and strategic direction. He is also a member of the Military Writers Guild, a global non-profit network of service members, veterans, civilian analysts, journalists, and writers dedicated to advocating for, collaborating on, and promoting military affairs and security-related writing. The Bleeding Nation: https://bookshop.org/a/126163/9786597649006