Twenty years, trillions of dollars, and the longest war in US history failed to eradicate the Taliban. Now, with the Taliban having taken back the country – and having implemented some of the most troubling restrictions on women we’ve seen from them – what’s next for Afghanistan and its people? And what’s been happening since the mainstream media mostly stopped covering the story? The head of foreign relations for the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF) Ali Maisam Nazary joins Mehdi Unfiltered in Washington, D.C. to talk about his coalition group’s efforts to force out the Taliban and take back the country. But how effective have they been so far – including in their efforts at getting foreign help? Are they even popular in the country? And what was their record when their members were part of the last government? Watch the interview above, including Nazary explaining the dire state of women in Afghanistan at this very moment (he calls it gender apartheid). And for paid subscribers, join the conversation in the comments and let us know what other countries you want to see us covering! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

Donald Trump has a seriously abusive relationship with the media. He bashes them as “enemies of the people,” tries to discredit them as “fake news,” and even calls for reporters and anchors to be jailed, yet much of the so-called ‘liberal’ US media seem to give him a pass on so much of the shocking stuff that he says or does.No lessons seem to have been learned from the 2016 debacle, and our media is now bent on trying to find some sort of ridiculous equivalence between the ordinary exaggerations and misstatements of the Democrats and the brazen gaslighting and fabulism of Trump and the GOP. By trying to look ‘neutral’ and ‘unbiased,’ the press has effectively assumed the role of Trump normalizers, at best, and Trump apologists, at worst. So what’s wrong with our ‘liberal’ media? And how do we fix it before it’s too late? To answer these questions and more, Mehdi was joined in the studio this week on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ by two of the US media’s most eloquent critics. Journalist and author Wajahat Ali, who publishes the Left Hook Substack newsletter, and veteran reporter and author James Fallows, who was chief speechwriter to President Jimmy Carter, and publishes the Breaking the News Substack newsletter. “I think it's time for fact checkers to retire for this election cycle.” “There's a bias towards normalizing things that are objectively crazy and being afraid to say, this is crazy.”Watch the panel discussion above to hear the full conversation about how the media lost their way, why truth is no longer prioritized in today’s mainstream media landscape, and listen out for at least one very dark, but very funny joke, from Wajahat!If you’re a paid subscriber, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments, and who you would like to see Mehdi talk to next! And if you’re not a paid subscriber, what are you waiting for? We want to hear from you too! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

In an exclusive interview with ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,’ the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, speaks to Mehdi on the threats that face both Palestinians in Gaza and his own organization. “I don't know how much worse it can become, I have to say, we are losing and we are lacking words to describe the situation,” says Lazzarini. UNRWA is currently fighting a polio outbreak in Gaza, but a successful vaccination campaign there is nearly impossible given Israel’s bombardment. “This is a communicable disease which doesn't know any border and could also spread in the entire region, including Israel,” Lazzarini tells Mehdi. In addition to disease, UNRWA faces repeated Israeli attempts at dismantling their entire organization. From accusations that staffers took part in the Oct. 7 attack, to allegations that Hamas builds tunnels under UNRWA schools.“I do not have the military expertise to look at what's underneath the entire Gaza Strip… All these allegations need to be investigated. First, we need to investigate the killing of the UN staff,” says Lazzarini. Watch the full conversation above to hear what the Commissioner-General also has to say about war crimes in Gaza.Also on the show: why can’t U.S. news organizations get their coverage of Donald Trump right? Mehdi is joined by journalist and author Wajahat Ali as well as former chief speechwriter to President Jimmy Carter, James Fallows, to talk about it. The conversation includes Ali calling for “fact checkers to retire for this election cycle,” Fallows on the “failure of imagination” among liberal white journalists, and a dark joke about detention camps from one of the two that we’ll leave for them to tell. Then there is Afghanistan, where the situation for women and minorities gets worse by the day, under Taliban rule, but which is being ignored by much of our mainstream media.“What we see today in Afghanistan is gender apartheid. Women have been erased from public life. Their basic rights have been taken away from them,” Ali Maisam Nazary, Head of Foreign Relations for the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), tells Mehdi on this week’s show.Watch the full interview to hear more on the status of women in Afghanistan. Mehdi also challenges Nazary on the fighting in the Panjshir Valley, the NRF’s record in the last government, and the difficulties that lie ahead. If you’re a paid subscriber, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments, and who you would like to see Mehdi talk to next! And if you’re not a paid subscriber, what are you waiting for? We want to hear from you too! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comCHICAGO – In this special episode of ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’, we’re at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, around the corner from the United Center, at the Palestinian-American owned OUD Coffee and Cafe. Mehdi is joined in this exclusive interview with prominent voices from the Uncommitted Movement – and just moments after it was revealed that the DNC would not be allowing a Palestinian to speak at the convention.Joining ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ are co-chair of the Uncommitted Movement Layla Elabed, who briefly spoke with Vice President Harris recently; former U.S. Representative from Michigan Andy Levin, a progressive, Jewish critic of Israel; and Georgia State Representative Ruwa Romman, the first Muslim-American woman, and first Palestinian-American to be elected to the state’s House of Representatives.Just minutes before this recording began, the panel got word that the DNC officially confirmed a Palestinian speaker would not be brought to speak on stage at the convention on Thursday, despite officials suggesting to the movement earlier that it could happen. The DNC had gone so far as shortlisting potential speakers, according to unnamed members of the movement who spoke to Zeteo.“I really thought I could take something back after this week,” Romman said. “And now I don’t know what I’m going to say to [my community].” Romman was the Palestinian-American who most likely would have been the speaker on stage Thursday evening.The Uncommitted Movement has been a prominent anti-war, pro-Palestinian coalition that’s secured more than 700,000 votes during the Democratic Party primaries, including more than 100,000 in the swing state of Michigan alone. It has thirty delegates from 8 states here at the DNC. So, how does the movement feel after the DNC denied a Palestinian voice a spot on the convention stage, especially after they featured the parents of an Israeli-American hostage in Gaza on stage Wednesday night? Do members believe they’ve made headway with the Democratic party in recent months, what’s been happening behind-the-scenes? And, the big questions, what happens next – and what’s the plan for November? Watch the full conversation above and join the conversation in the comments below!

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit zeteo.comThroughout the course of Israel’s brutal 10-month assault on Gaza, Ami Ayalon – the former head of Israel’s Security Service, Shin-Bet, and the ex-commander of the Israeli Navy – has emerged as one of the Netanyahu government’s chief critics, along with several other former Israeli military officials. In this wide-ranging interview for ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,’ Ayalon tells Mehdi why he believes Benjamin Netanyahu and Itamar Ben-Gvir are a threat to Israeli democracy, why it is time to “stop the occupation,” and why he would fight against Israel if he were a Palestinian.“[Netanyahu] did everything in order to increase the power of Hamas and to make sure that Abu Mazen and the Palestinian Authority will not be able to create a unified government,” Ayalon says. “I think that too many Israelis do not understand that we shall not have security unless we shall stop the occupation. And we shall not have democracy unless we shall end the occupation.”As reports of Israeli torture and rape against detained Palestinians continue to emerge, Mehdi also confronts Ayalon over allegations of torture against Shin Bet on his watch - and the former security chief admits to Mehdi that he has “many regrets.”Watch the full interview, above, to see Mehdi debate Ayalon on whether or not Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza by bombing civilian targets. Please note that free subscribers can only watch the first ten minutes as a preview.If you’re a paid subscriber, join the conversation below - we love hearing what you think!

The streets of Britain took a 180-degree turn from leftists protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza to far-right fascists rioting in favor of the expulsion of migrants and Muslims from the country. On this week’s episode of ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,’ Mehdi speaks to British Member of Parliament Zarah Sultana, the youngest Muslim woman ever elected to the House of Commons, on what’s happening on the ground and what’s driving this shocking wave of right-wing political violence. “These racist, Islamophobic, far right riots haven't come from nowhere, they are a culmination of racist headlines and racist framing by our media and our political class,” she tells Mehdi. And it isn’t just newspaper headlines or political rhetoric that has helped exacerbate these riots, Sultana explains. “You've got people like Elon Musk who are also perpetuating this conspiracy… we see how he has used Twitter to amplify anti-migrant rhetoric, anti-trans rhetoric,” she says. Watch their full discussion above, unpacking the horrifying riots that have led to more than 500 arrests and are still keeping people on high alert. This week, thousands of anti-racist counter-protestors gathered in public, to take a stand against the far-right, amid a heightened police presence. Also on the show, Mehdi speaks with liberal YouTube star Brian Tyler Cohen about the state of the Harris v Trump U.S. presidential race and the ongoing radicalization of the Republican Party. With his new book ‘Shameless: Republicans' Deliberate Dysfunction and the Battle to Preserve Democracy,’ releasing soon, Brian doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the modern MAGA-led GOP.“The case is that Republicans are not who they have claimed to be in terms of their historical branding… and I think exposing the reality of the situation that we're living in… will kind of pry them [Americans] away from the spell that Republicans have put on them,” says Brian.That spell Brian talks about is one that is rarely broken by mainstream media, but rather protected through ‘both sides’ normalizing coverage of Trump’s insane rhetoric. “They [the mainstream media] feel this obligation somehow to continue on as these neutral observers that have no skin in the game,” Brian tells Mehdi, who he also interviewed for his new book. Do watch the full show above and, for paid subscribers, be sure to let us know in the comments below what you think of the show and who we should have on next! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

Among the thousands of Israelis of age to be drafted into the military, teenager Tal Mitnick stands out. Although military service for most Israeli Jews is mandatory, Tal picked a second, much less popular, option: go to prison.Last December, 18-year-old Tal went to prison for the first time after refusing a mandatory draft. “I felt like I needed to take the stance,” Tal tells Mehdi in this wide-ranging interview, and he has… five times. Tal has been sent to prison on five separate occasions since Oct 7th, for his ongoing refusal to serve - and spent more than 180 days behind bars. “It was a sacrifice that I was willing to take, to show this voice inside Israeli society,” said Tal. Locked up, he and other young Israeli conscientious objectors penned a letter to Joe Biden, urging him to stop supporting Israel’s war. But Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House last month shows the U.S. president is not listening to Israeli dissidents like Tal. “Anyone that claims to be a friend of Israel, like Joe Biden or Kamala Harris... should stop arming this war,” he told Mehdi.Of the many important stories that Zeteo has published on how many Israelis see Palestinians, Tal’s story stands apart. In a society that is now rampant with violence, rage, and hate, Tal seeks a peace that fewer and fewer Israelis seem to be keen on.“The way that we create societal change is by showing people that another way is possible.”Watch Tal Mitnick’s full interview with Mehdi above, and - if you’re a paid subscriber - do please let us know your thoughts in the comments.  This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

Project 2025, the super-controversial presidential transition project conceived of by the pro-Trump, right-wing Heritage Foundation in Washington DC, is grabbing a lot of headlines these days: It has been called a “prescription for authoritarianism,” and a “wish list for a Trump presidency” that would “open the door for abuses of political power” and should “send shivers down the spine of anyone who cares about the rule of law.”But what does it actually say? Most of you don’t have time to read more than 900 pages of right-wing bloviating, but Zeteo has you covered. Watch Mehdi break down all 30 chapters of Project 2025’s dystopian manifesto in just two minutes flat. (He speaks very fast!)Start the clock! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

Two historic events happened in the last week and this week’s ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ covered both of them. On the international front…The International Court of Justice, the ICJ, issued a landmark 83-page opinion on Friday agreeing with the decades-long assertions from Palestinians that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is unlawful and should come to an end “as rapidly as possible”. Award-winning journalist and Zeteo contributor Rula Jebreal joins Mehdi to talk about what the historic decision means, what it could lead to, and shares some strong opinions about Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. On the domestic front…For the first time since 1968, a sitting U.S. president decided not to run for re-election. But how will Vice President Kamala Harris fare against Donald Trump? And how do progressive Members of Congress feel about Biden’s decision to bow out of the race? Mehdi spoke to Congressman Ro Khanna of California - who also discusses why he won’t be attending Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on Wednesday.PLUS! JOIN ZETEO TOMORROW DURING NETANYAHU’S SPEECH TO CONGRESSMehdi and Zeteo’s new political correspondent, Prem Thakker, will go LIVE on Substack Chats tomorrow, July 24th, at 10:30am reporting on the historic and controversial speech from the Israeli prime minister. Prem will be on Capitol Hill, both outside with protestors and inside with members of Congress, and chatting live during Netanyahu’s speech at 2pm. Mehdi will also have a lot to say, so join in the conversation with your own thoughts and questions! This Substack Chat event is open to all paid subscribers. You should receive an email notification once the Chat is live and running. We strongly recommend downloading the Substack app for a better Zeteo experience - including tomorrow’s chat. See you there! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe

Kamala Harris has now won the endorsements of Joe Biden, the Clintons, and multiple members of the House and Senate. She has raised tens of millions of dollars in less than 24 hours. But does she have a plan to beat Donald Trump? A clear winning strategy? In this video for Zeteo, here are my seven pieces of unsolicited advice for the vice-president who has now become the likely 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.  This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zeteo.com/subscribe