As the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 the Afghan Embassy in Vienna was led by Ambassador Manizha Bakhtari. While the political legitimacy of her role was thrown into uncertainty overnight, her moral position never shifted. From Vienna, she continued to speak out forcefully against the Taliban regime, particularly its systematic exclusion of women from public life.

Filmmaker Natalie Halla was struck by Bakhtari’s courage during those chaotic weeks of transition and set out to document them. The result is The Last Ambassador (2025), a documentary that follows Bakhtari as she refuses to relinquish her post. The film captures the Taliban takeover in real time and bears witness to what Bakhtari describes as a “deliberate system of gender apartheid.”

Yet resistance persists. In response to the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education, Bakhtari initiated the “Daughters Program,” connecting girls inside Afghanistan with support. The Last Ambassador documents these fragile but powerful lifelines and calls on the world not to look away, but to stand in solidarity and keep Afghanistan from being forgotten.

For more information on the program and how to participate:
https://www.wasefbakhtari-foundation.com/

In conversation with:
Natalie Halla (Film Director, The Last Ambassador) and Manizha Bakhtari (Ambassador of Afghanistan to Austria)

Musical interlude
from artist Nina Svatovic with the song “You Don’t Have to Run”

https://ninasvatovic.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-meantime

Broadcast by: Lauren Wagner