November 11, 2006: World's Most Dangerous Places - Robert Young Pelton
Podcast: The Art Bell ArchivePublished On: Thu Feb 05 2026
Description: Art Bell welcomes adventurer and author Robert Young Pelton to discuss his book on the world's most dangerous places. Pelton describes his transition from marketing executive to professional adventurer, recounting how he recorded interviews with Taliban leadership in 1995 and embedded with U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan after September 11. He explains the complex relationship between Pakistan, the Taliban, and the Afghan tribal regions.The conversation turns personal as Art asks about the Philippines, where he is broadcasting from. Pelton confirms Manila's dangers, revealing how police there operate as hired killers for as little as two hundred dollars. He shares harrowing stories from Chechnya, where he witnessed Russian forces bombing civilian apartment buildings during the siege of Grozny, surviving as one of only two Westerners inside the city.Art and Pelton find common ground on the value of experiencing the world firsthand. Both argue that Americans would hold fundamentally different views on foreign policy if every citizen traveled to a developing country. Pelton draws parallels between tribal walkabout traditions and the modern loss of personal testing that once defined the transition from childhood to adulthood.
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