Sean Carberry

Sean Carberry is NPR's Kabul Correspondent. His work can be heard on all of NPR's award-winning programs, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition.

Prior to moving into his current role, he was responsible for producing for NPR's foreign correspondents in the Middle East and "fill-in" reporting. Carberry travels extensively across the Middle East to cover a range of stories such as the impact of electricity shortages on the economy in Afghanistan and the experiences of Syrian refugees in Turkish camps.

Carberry has reported from more than two-dozen countries including Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, and Iceland. In 2010, Carberry won the Gabriel Award Certificate of Merit for America Abroad's "The First Freedom," and in 2011 was awarded the Sigma Delta Chi Award as lead producer and correspondent for America Abroad's series, "The Arab World's Demographic Dilemma."

Since joining NPR, Carberry worked with Lourdes Garcia-Navarro in Tripoli for NPR's coverage of the fall of the Libyan capital. He also covered the post-US withdrawal political crisis in Baghdad in December 2011, and recently completed a two month fill-in reporting assignment in Kabul that led to his current role.

Before coming to NPR in 2011, Carberry worked at America Abroad Media where he served as technical director and senior producer in addition to traveling internationally to report and produce radio and multimedia content for America Abroad's monthly radio news documentaries and website. He also worked at NPR Member Station WBUR in Boston as a field and political producer, associate producer/technical director, and reporter, contributing to NPR, newscasts, and WBUR's Here and Now.

In addition to his journalistic accolades, Carberry is a well-rounded individual who has also been an assistant professor of music production and engineering at Berklee College of Music in Boston, received a Gold Record as Recording Engineer for Susan Tedeschi's Grammy-Nominated album "Just Won't Burn," engineered music for the television program "Sex in the City," is a certified SCUBA diver, and is a graduate of the Skip Barber School of Auto Racing.

Carberry earned a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies from Lehigh University and a Masters of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, with a focus in Politics, National Security, and International Affairs.

A History Of Love Gone Wrong, All In One Croatian Museum

Next image Previous image

Credit Sean Carberry / NPR

At the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, Croatia, each item is accompanied by a story from the donor on how a romance fell apart.

Credit Hrvoje Polan / AFP/Getty Images

The items at the museum were donated by people who saw the artifacts as symbols of their broken relationships. The museum was founded by Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisic after they broke up.

Credit Hrvoje Polan / AFP/Getty Images

A key with bottle opener, one of the items on display at the museum.

By Sean Carberry

Originally published on Tue October 8, 2013 6:50 am

Listen

I confess I'm not much of a museum tourist. On a recent visit to Croatia's capital, Zagreb, I strolled past three museums without feeling any urge to step inside. Then I came across one I just couldn't ignore: the Museum of Broken Relationships.

"It's a collection of objects donated by people who have broken up," says Drazen Grubisic, a co-owner of the museum. "Each item has an accompanying story."

Some are amusing, others sarcastic and a few are just plain heartbreaking.

12:29 am

Mon September 9, 2013

How To Build An Afghan Army, In A Million Difficult Steps

Next image Previous image

Credit Sean Carberry / NPR

Afghan soldiers and contractors are taught about the workings of a diesel-powered electrical generator at Forward Operating Base Nolay in Helmand province.

Credit Sean Carberry / NPR

Afghan soldiers participate in a training exercise in patrol tactics at Camp Shorabak, the Afghan base attached to Camp Leatherneck in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province.

Credit Sean Carberry / NPR

Sgt. Randall Schamber teaches Afghan soldiers and contractors how to properly wire the output of an electrical generator at Forward Operating Base Nolay.

By Sean Carberry

Originally published on Mon September 9, 2013 9:57 am

Listen

It's 8 a.m. on a recent day at Forward Operating Base Nolay, a small Marine outpost in Taliban-infested Sangin District of southern Afghanistan's Helmand province. The Marines are in the process of caffeinating and preparing for the day.

Suddenly, explosions and gunfire ring out. The Marines don't run for their weapons or bunkers for that matter. They don't even flinch.

"We can sit here and we can have a cup of coffee when there's booms going on, we're not concerned about it," says Lt. Col. Jonathan Loney.

12:45 am

Mon August 26, 2013

For Pakistan And Afghanistan, Soccer As Reconciliation

Next image Previous image

Credit Omar Sobhani / Reuters/Landov

Afghanistan and Pakistan, countries that have a history of tense relations, played their first soccer match in nearly 40 years when they met Aug. 20 in Kabul. Afghanistan (in red) won 3-0.

Credit Massoud Hossaini / AFP/Getty Images

Afghan soccer players celebrate their 3-0 win against Pakistan on Aug. 20 in Kabul.

By Sean Carberry

Originally published on Mon August 26, 2013 2:03 am

Listen

Afghanistan and Pakistan are better known for their verbal fights and occasional border clashes, but for the first time since 1976, they battled on a soccer field in Kabul.

Some 6,000 rabid Afghan fans cheered on their team, clad in red uniforms. There were horns, flags, and face paint. It looked like any soccer game in the world, except for all the riot police, snipers, and Blackhawk helicopters passing overhead periodically.

Ahmad Mirwais, a 27-year-old tailor, was one of those lucky enough to score a ticket.

12:03 am

Mon August 19, 2013

In Kabul, A Juggling Act That Offers Joy For Afghan Kids

Next image Previous image

Credit Sean Carberry / NPR

Students at the Afghan Mobile Mini Circus for Children participate in the juggling parade on the streets of Kabul before Afghanistan's eighth annual national juggling championship last week.

Credit Sean Carberry / NPR

Students at the decade-old Afghan Mobile Mini Circus for Children warm up before the juggling championship in Kabul.

By Sean Carberry

Originally published on Mon August 19, 2013 3:52 am

Listen

Morning traffic in Kabul can be punishing enough as it is. But on a recent day, there's an extra element clogging up the streets, a scene you don't see on a typical day in the Afghan capital.

12:58 am

Sun August 4, 2013

Regimental Combat Team 7 Rolls Up Its Flag In Afghanistan

Credit Sean Carberry / NPR

Regimental Combat Team 7 cases its flag during their mission's closing ceremony in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

By Sean Carberry

Originally published on Sun August 4, 2013 11:42 am

Listen

At the peak of fighting in Afghanistan's Helmand Province, there were 20,000 Marines battling the Taliban. Now there are 8,000 — and more are heading home every month.

Among the latest to pack up was Regimental Combat Team 7.

At their mission's recent closing ceremony, several hundred Marines gathered in the scorching desert heat at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand Province. Their tan, pixelated fatigues blended in amidst the vast expanse of sand-colored tents and buildings of the largest Marine base in Afghanistan.

4:09 am

Tue July 23, 2013

An Afghan Minister Fires Back At Impeachment Attempt

Credit Mohammad Ismail / Reuters /Landov

Ghulam Mujtaba Patang speaks at a news conference Monday after being dismissed from his post as Afghanistan's interior minister. He will stay in the post until the country's Supreme Court rules on the legality of his dismissal.

By Sean Carberry

Originally published on Tue July 23, 2013 8:13 am

If you think it's tough being a Cabinet secretary in the U.S., having to deal with the demands of a fiercely partisan Congress and testify a few times a year, try being the Afghan interior minister.

"I have been summoned by the lower house 93 times, and 79 times by the upper house," says Ghulam Mujtaba Patang, who for the past 10 months has been in charge of the ministry that oversees the Afghan National Police.

"Based on this calculation, I have had one day in a week to work for the people," he says.

12:02 am

Tue July 23, 2013

Despite Many Threats, Afghan TV Satire Mocks The Powerful

Credit Sultan Faizy / NPR

Zang-e-Khatar, or Danger Bell, makes fun of government officials and other powerful figures in Afghanistan. Cast members are shown performing a skit during a taping of the show.

By Sean Carberry

Originally published on Tue July 23, 2013 6:10 pm

Listen

Saturday Night Live. The Daily Show. Zang-e-Khatar.

12:09 am

Sun July 14, 2013

Despite Repeated Tries, Afghan Peace Efforts Still Sputter

Credit Noorullah Shirzada / Getty Images

Afghan soldiers take positions following a clash with Taliban fighters on the outskirts of the eastern city of Jalalabad on July 7. The U.S. is trying to organize peace talks, but the latest effort has been put on hold while the fighting continues.

By Sean Carberry

Originally published on Sat July 20, 2013 1:48 pm

Listen

The U.S. has been pushing the Taliban and the Afghan government to find a political solution for the past year and a half. But every time it seems the parties are close to starting peace talks, a new demand or controversy arises and nothing happens.

In the latest attempt, the Taliban finally opened a political office in Qatar, a move that was supposed to set the stage for negotiations. But when the Taliban envoys gave that office the trappings of an embassy, a furious Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, called off the talks, and they have yet to be re-scheduled.

1:57 am

Sun June 30, 2013

Kabul Postcard: Newly Paved Sidewalks, A Lion On The Roof

Next image Previous image

Credit Ahmad Jamshid / AP

Afghan official inspects wreckage at the site of a suicide attack near Kabul military airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on June 10. After a month outside the country, NPR's Sean Carberry returned to find some things that had changed, but many, like insurgent violence, that remain the same.

Credit Ahmad Jamshid / AP

An Afghan policeman stands guard at the scene of a suicide car bomber attack that struck outside the Afghan Supreme Court in Kabul, on June 11.

By Sean Carberry

Originally published on Mon July 1, 2013 9:42 am

I've just returned to Kabul after a month out of the country. In a place where it sometimes feels like nothing changes, a lot has changed.

First, a few oddities. An Afghan businessman on my street apparently bought a lion cub and has been keeping it on his roof. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the fact that I have yet to see any of the ubiquitous, dust-caked street dogs in the neighborhood since I returned, but I don't miss them.

2:41 am

Sun May 19, 2013

Afghans With Disabilities Fight For The Right To Rights

Credit Sean Carberry / NPR

A technician shapes a cast mold for a prosthetic limb at the Red Cross orthopedic clinic in Kabul. The clinic produces about 2,000 prosthetic limbs each year.

By Sean Carberry

Originally published on Sun May 19, 2013 3:44 pm

Listen

Climbing the rickety metal staircase is precarious enough if you aren't on crutches, but it's simply dangerous if you are. At the top is the office of Janbazan-e-Mayhan, one of many social councils for disabled Afghans. Men missing arms, legs or hands sit around the small room.

Afghanistan isn't an easy place for anyone to make a living. But for those with disabilities, it's a downright hostile environment. Tens of thousands have been maimed and disabled during decades of conflict. Jobs are scarce, and there's almost nothing that's handicapped-accessible.

Now Playing

Sean Carberry

Pages

Parallels

8:09 am

Mon September 30, 2013