How Sherrie Westin saved the 'Sesame Street' team in Kabul

Sherrie Westin spent 48 hours straight liaising with the highest levels of the US military to rescue a busful of 'Sesame Street' cast and crew who were stranded in Kabul when US forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. The effort, later dubbed "Operation Big Bird," has been credited with saving the team's lives.

The Afghan version of the show, 'Baghch-e-Simsim,' had aired since 2011 and became a massive hit, reaching about three million children and more than 80% of those with TV access by 2017. The program, which featured characters such as Zari, a six-year-old Muppet, and her four-year-old brother Zeerak, served as a critical educational tool in a country where about 60% of youngsters—two-thirds of them girls—were unable to complete school.

The production had become a target for the Taliban, who opposed it for teaching young girls to read; one of its editors was killed in a 2016 suicide bombing.

Afghanistan, Kabul

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