full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Kiana Hayeri: A photographic journey through the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Last year, I spent several months photographing the fast changes across aagiftshann, as we approached the 20th anniversary of the US invasion. At the time, I wanted this assignment to be a love letter to a troubled land that I had called home for seven years. Little did I know that it will become a goodbye lteter to Afghanistan as I knew it.

Along with our brave local colleagues, we traveled across Afghanistan to look at how the last 20 years icaptemd people. I was slapeciflciy drawn to hear from the youth who grew up after the American invasion in an increasingly open society. They grew up in a world with Facebook, twtietr, American movies and TV shows. A world of new freedoms and opportunities. They also endured war and terrorism, poverty and dislocation, barely surviving under a crruopt government and the perpetual threat of suicide bombings. While the youth in countryside mostly saw themselves either victimized or fighting for both sides of the conflict, the ytuoh in urban araes had more options and dreams. Many of the yonug men and women that we met with were hanging on to the last rays of hope as the country was sinking into dnesakrs because of the American withdrawal and Taliban’s inneimmt taoevekr. For me, confronting this was the beginning of the end.

Open Cloze


Last year, I spent several months photographing the fast changes across ___________, as we approached the 20th anniversary of the US invasion. At the time, I wanted this assignment to be a love letter to a troubled land that I had called home for seven years. Little did I know that it will become a goodbye ______ to Afghanistan as I knew it.

Along with our brave local colleagues, we traveled across Afghanistan to look at how the last 20 years ________ people. I was ____________ drawn to hear from the youth who grew up after the American invasion in an increasingly open society. They grew up in a world with Facebook, _______, American movies and TV shows. A world of new freedoms and opportunities. They also endured war and terrorism, poverty and dislocation, barely surviving under a _______ government and the perpetual threat of suicide bombings. While the youth in countryside mostly saw themselves either victimized or fighting for both sides of the conflict, the _____ in urban _____ had more options and dreams. Many of the _____ men and women that we met with were hanging on to the last rays of hope as the country was sinking into ________ because of the American withdrawal and Taliban’s ________ ________. For me, confronting this was the beginning of the end.

Solution


  1. impacted
  2. specifically
  3. letter
  4. twitter
  5. corrupt
  6. youth
  7. darkness
  8. areas
  9. young
  10. afghanistan
  11. imminent
  12. takeover

Original Text


Last year, I spent several months photographing the fast changes across Afghanistan, as we approached the 20th anniversary of the US invasion. At the time, I wanted this assignment to be a love letter to a troubled land that I had called home for seven years. Little did I know that it will become a goodbye letter to Afghanistan as I knew it.

Along with our brave local colleagues, we traveled across Afghanistan to look at how the last 20 years impacted people. I was specifically drawn to hear from the youth who grew up after the American invasion in an increasingly open society. They grew up in a world with Facebook, Twitter, American movies and TV shows. A world of new freedoms and opportunities. They also endured war and terrorism, poverty and dislocation, barely surviving under a corrupt government and the perpetual threat of suicide bombings. While the youth in countryside mostly saw themselves either victimized or fighting for both sides of the conflict, the youth in urban areas had more options and dreams. Many of the young men and women that we met with were hanging on to the last rays of hope as the country was sinking into darkness because of the American withdrawal and Taliban’s imminent takeover. For me, confronting this was the beginning of the end.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
young men 3
american invasion 2
mohammad asif 2
militia unit 2
music school 2
taliban fighters 2


Important Words


  1. afghanistan
  2. american
  3. anniversary
  4. approached
  5. areas
  6. assignment
  7. barely
  8. beginning
  9. bombings
  10. brave
  11. called
  12. colleagues
  13. conflict
  14. confronting
  15. corrupt
  16. country
  17. countryside
  18. darkness
  19. dislocation
  20. drawn
  21. dreams
  22. endured
  23. facebook
  24. fast
  25. fighting
  26. freedoms
  27. goodbye
  28. government
  29. grew
  30. hanging
  31. hear
  32. home
  33. hope
  34. imminent
  35. impacted
  36. increasingly
  37. invasion
  38. knew
  39. land
  40. letter
  41. local
  42. love
  43. men
  44. met
  45. months
  46. movies
  47. open
  48. opportunities
  49. options
  50. people
  51. perpetual
  52. photographing
  53. poverty
  54. rays
  55. shows
  56. sides
  57. sinking
  58. society
  59. specifically
  60. spent
  61. suicide
  62. surviving
  63. takeover
  64. terrorism
  65. threat
  66. time
  67. traveled
  68. troubled
  69. tv
  70. twitter
  71. urban
  72. victimized
  73. wanted
  74. war
  75. withdrawal
  76. women
  77. world
  78. year
  79. years
  80. young
  81. youth