Lyse Doucet

Oh, I think I've lost count.

The first time was Christmas 1988, and Afghanistan was in the grips of the harshest winter in decades.

And as Canadians, we know what that means.

But it was also in the grip of the Cold War, and it was in the crosshairs of what was then

a global confrontation, a Soviet-backed government in Kabul, Western-backed Mujahideen.

That war was tearing the countryside apart.

And I think, Peter, in a sense, that was the Ukraine war of our time, the most grievous war in the world, the biggest migration crisis, and it never left our headlines.

And I'm sure it's the same way with you.

I remember when I started traveling, people said, Lise, you're going to find that cities are like people.

You decide immediately whether or not you're going to have a relationship with them.

And Kabul was like that for me, or perhaps I should say Afghans were like that for me.

I was taken by the country and taken in a personal sense because I found that Afghans have a very strong sense of self.

And I found...

That through the years, I've realized that people who have a strong sense of self, and I think this applies to Canadians, also have a very strong sense of humor.

And it makes them very warm-hearted towards others.

And of course, I landed there when, as a journalist, the eyes of the world were on Afghanistan.

And

working there as a young BBC correspondent was not just a great privilege, it was a responsibility because it was said that 95% of Afghans were listening to the BBC, translated my dispatches.

Remember that time there were no those telephones in our pockets time.

There was like three, four international telephone lines out of Kabul, most of them going through Moscow.