THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2025 13 LETTERS-PLUS Pulling the Plug on RFE/RL and Voice of America BY LISA SORUSH RESPONSE TO APRIL-MAY 2025 LETTERS-PLUS, “REQUIEM FOR THE VOICE THAT CARRIED A NATION’S CONSCIENCE” Steve Herman’s “Requiem for the Voice That Carried a Nation’s Conscience” in the April-May issue reminded me of my own connection to the important work of the journalists at the Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). In 2002, just months after the fall of the Taliban, the people of Afghanistan felt like they were able to breathe for the first time in years. I was a medical student at Kabul University of Medical Sciences. Like many young Afghan women, I believed we were entering a new era. While a student, I also served as the director of the Afghanistan Girls Cultural Center, a role that allowed me to advocate for women’s rights at a time when simply raising one’s voice was still dangerous. I met with female university students in Kabul. The girls came from far-off provinces to study in the capital, but the city wasn’t ready for them. With no dormitories and no family nearby, they had to live with distant relatives, often in overcrowded, unsupportive, and even unsafe environments. I told their stories to anyone who would listen, including President Hamid Lisa Sorush specializes in conflict analysis, focusing on South and Central Asia. She is a media commentator, an advocate for Afghanistan, an author, and a student in the Executive Master of Arts in National Security Affairs program at the Institute of World Politics. Karzai. He responded by ordering the evacuation of a building that had been a government-run girls’ hostel before 1992, when the Taliban reportedly gave the property rights to Kabul University professors. President Karzai ordered that the building be turned into a women’s dormitory once again. Some people, including the university professors, had negative opinions about women’s rights—views not unlike those of the Taliban—and opposed this move. Wazeri, a lecturer in Pashto literature at Kabul University, threatened me and told me to “stop fighting” to open the hostel. “One bullet is enough for you,” he said. It wasn’t just a threat; it was a reminder of what pushing for change meant in Afghanistan, a country where the U.S.-NATO forces fought for democracy and women’s rights, and sought to rebuild the country after decades of war and terrorism. When I told one of my classmates what was happening, he introduced me to a journalist from RFE/RL Afghanistan Service, also known as Radio Azadi. When the journalist covered these girls’ stories, airing them on the radio, it drew international attention. This media coverage led directly to USAID’s construction of a hostel for women, which now stands as an example of how media and aid help not only to support the freedom of all people to receive a free flow of information, but also to promote a better world for Afghan women. In that small apartment in Kabul, those young women believed someone would fight for them. And someone did. A reporter with a microphone, a radio signal, and a commitment to the truth. That single broadcast not only gave voice to the voiceless girls, it changed the course of their lives. That’s why the Trump administration’s recent move to shut down VOA and RFE/RL is not just wrong—it’s dangerous. Destroying VOA, RFE/RL, Radio Free Asia, and Radio Farda is a risk to national security. These platforms are America’s most cost-effective tools for influencing abroad with soft power. They counter disinformation, build trust, and win the hearts and minds of the people—not with weapons but with truth. RFE/RL and VOA have never just been broadcasters. They’ve been lifelines.
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