About this episode

Shane Smith interviews Gelareh Kiazand about her reporting experiences in Iran and Afghanistan, focusing on the complexities of life in conflict zones.

For more than a decade, Gelareh Kiazand reported from some of the world's most complicated and misunderstood places. From covering life under the Taliban in Afghanistan to documenting everyday life inside Iran, her work focused on telling stories from the ground — often in places where politics, war, and international headlines rarely capture the full picture. In this conversation, Shane Smith sits down with Gelareh to reflect on years of reporting across Iran and Afghanistan, the realities of covering conflict, and what journalists can learn by spending time with the people who actually live through these events. Featuring archival VICE reporting and footage from recent reporting in Tehran, they discuss war, sanctions, media narratives, daily life, and the challenge of understanding countries that are often reduced to headlines and geopolitics. After decades covering the region, one thing remains true:Showing up still matters. In this episode: • Reporting from Afghanistan during the war • Life under the Taliban and what changed after the withdrawal • What everyday life in Iran looks like beyond the headlines • The challenges of reporting from conflict zones • Journalism…

People in this episode

Host: Shane Smith

Guest: Gelareh Kiazand

Topics covered

• journalism
• conflict reporting
• Iran
• Afghanistan
• media narratives
• daily life
• politics

Keywords

• reporting
• Taliban
• Iran
• Afghanistan
• journalism
• conflict
• media
• sanctions
• daily life

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: VICE, Taliban

Places: Afghanistan, Iran, Tehran

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