At The New Yorker, Steve Coll recommends we see the documentary on HBO “Afghan Star.”
It follows contestants in the runaway-hit Afghan version of an American Idol-inspired televised talent contest. Two female finalists are shadowed by Taliban threats, although one of the pair, a Pashtun from Kandahar, claims on film at one point that ethnic loyalty has trumped ideology and that many Taliban are texting votes to support her, an entirely plausible boast.