S1E1: 'Enter at your own risk' – Singapore journalists recall post-9/11 assignment in Afghanistan: 9/11 Special 20 years on (Pt 1)

Sep 15, 2021

39:51

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Synopsis: 2021 marks 20 years since the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

Mr Melvinderpal Singh and Ms Seto Nu-Wen were journalists with The New Paper in 2001, when the 9/11 attacks happened in the United States.

The Straits Times' Jonathan Roberts speaks with Melvin and Seto, as they recall their assignments to Afghanistan with photographer Mohd Ishak soon after the attacks. Afghanistan was then sheltering the terrorist leader behind the attacks, Osama Bin Laden.

Highlights (click/tap above):

0:45 Melvin and Seto recall 9/11 attacks as they unfolded, and the newsroom's reaction in Singapore

2:30 Just before the 9/11 attacks, how they and The New Paper had been reporting on emerging terrorist groups in South-east Asia and possible links to Afghanistan

4:58 How Melvin went to report in Afghanistan a week before the US invasion on Oct 7, 2001 - termed Operation Enduring Freedom

11:03 First impressions of Afghanistan, and dealing with danger

17:21 Challenges Seto faced as a female journalist in Afghanistan

20:22 People whose lives and stories remain etched in Melvin's and Seto's memories

30:55 How the 9/11 attacks affected their own world views

34:10 The legacy of Pashtun pride and how they view Afghanistan now

Listen to Pt 2: Terror threat seeds planted in South-east Asia before 9/11 attacks in US - https://str.sg/wKMz

Pt 3: 9/11's impact on Singapore, local Muslim identity, harmony beyond 2021 - https://str.sg/wKMK

Pt 4: 20 years on, JI detainees speak on their roles in plot to attack Singapore - https://str.sg/wKMr

Produced by: Jonathan Roberts, Shawn Lee Miller & Ernest Luis

Edited by: Jonathan Roberts & Hadyu Rahim

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