By host Tom Ashbrook:

Just weeks after US-led forces toppled the Taliban in January 2002, young Rory Stewart stood at the western edge of Afghanistan, ready — incredibly — to walk in the winter through mountains, across a famously rugged country torn by decades of infamously brutal war.

The young Scotsman was no naive fool. He had already walked over much of Asia, served as a British diplomat, and tutored the British royals’ Prince William and Prince Harry.

Now, he was far from any palace grounds — in Kipling country with Kalashnikovs, walking village by village by mountain pass through a country that is still confounding American troops.

Hear about the remarkable story of Rory Stewart’s impossible journey, and the unfinished challenge of Afghanistan.

Guests:

Carlotta Gall, reporter for the New York Times

Rory Stewart, author of “The Places in Between”