Afghanistan – the documentary contributors
Many people contributed to the making of this documentary about the many Afghanistan conflicts.
The combatants, observers and commentators on the Afghan conflicts of the last few hundred years.
Taliban | Mullah Rocketi | Civil War | Tom Twetten | Afghanistan
The civil war that followed the Russian withdrawal lasted five long years and brought forth the Taliban and their cruel regime.
Afghanistan has been, for so many men, a place of heroism, self-sacrifice. And yet, in the end, all this energy, all this courage, was in pursuit of something which is simply wrong.
Sepoy Rebellion | Bala Hisar | Sir Louis Cavagnari | Prince Ali Seraj | Afghanistan
When the envoy to Afghanistan, Sir Louis Cavagnari, Took residence in a citadel, little did he know that he had occupied Bala Hisar of the Afghan Kings.
Mortified by his death and desperate to salvage their credibility, Britain launched another invasion into Afghanistan. The commander of the league General Roberts, was told ‘Your objectives should be to strike terror and to strike it swiftly and deeply.’
Russian Occupation | Ruslan Aushev | Mujahideen | Panjshir | Afghanistan
Russia felt compelled to come to the aid of communist Afghanistan in 1979. A communist state could not be allowed to fail. Mujahideen resist Russian aid.
Russians invaded our country and offended our dignity and honour. They had occupied our land and disrespected our religious beliefs, that is why we started doing jihad against them.
Sir Rodric Braithwaite | Dost Mohammad | Shah Shuja | Kabul | Tatiana Zagarodnikova
The Powers that Be in England and India decided, in their wisdom, that it was necessary to topple Dost Mohammad and replace him with Shah Shuja.
The British in the towers of their forts, and the Afghans gazing back at them from their family compounds, began to look at each other with deepening mistrust and incomprehension.
PuliCharki Prison | Kabul | Nur Mohammad Taraki | Hamidullah Tarzi | Afghanistan
The introduction of Communism by the Afghan people met with considerable resentment, ending with intervention and, ultimately, invasion by Russia.
A man who saw Russia’s interaction with Afghanistan firsthand was Rodric Braithwaite later Britain’s ambassador to Moscow.
Lady Sale Diary | Jane Robinson | British Library | Khord Kabul | Afghanistan
During her time in Afghanistan, Lady Sale, wife of an army officer, kept a diary including the time of the surrender and subsequent massacre.
The British Empire had been humiliated. And the defeat was seared into our historical memory, creating a view of Afghanistan as a graveyard of empire, an unconquerable land.
Kombat Bar | Moscow | Afghanistan | War Veterans | Proletariat
Moscow’s Kombat Bar is where many of the Afghan War veterans gather to reminisce to toast their success and criticise the failures.
Russia is my country. I will defend it. From everything. They are just the same. They are also protecting their country. But what I will say is that Afghanistan was never conquered by anybody.
Joanne Herring | CIA Chuck Cogan | Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
The Mujahideen resistance was aided against the Russians by the unlikely intervention of the CIA and Texan Socialite Joanne Herring.
Joanne Herring “the man you just met is one of the richest men in Houston… And he is wonderful. He does so much and, and I’m working on him for Afghanistan.”
Istalif | Hippie Trail | King Amanullah | Russian Influence | Tom Barfield
From 1929 to 1978 Afghanistan enjoyed 50 years of peace. A claim many European countries could not match. A long gone Hippie trail of yore.
Communism denies religion and debases the individual to a part of the vast machine that powers the state. Children are taken early and moulded to fit the machine. Here is no search for truth.
