Original subtitles

(airplanes whirring)

[Airplane Passenger] The cockpit's not answering.

Somebody's stabbed in business class.

I don't know, I think we're getting hijacked.

Another one just hit the building.

Wow.

Another one just hit it hard.

Another one just hit the World Trade.

Holy smokes.

(explosion blasting)

On September the 11th,

enemies of freedom committed an act of war

against our country.

The evidence we have gathered

all points to a collection

of loosely affiliated terrorist organizations

known as al-Qaeda.

There are thousands of these terrorists

in more than 60 countries.

They are recruited from their own nations

and brought to camps in places like Afghanistan

where they're trained in the tactics of terror.

(sirens blaring) (contemplative ambient music)

If you look at the people who were in the plane

who committed suicide

and killed more than 3,000 people in New York,

none of them were Afghan.

None of them were Afghan.

All of them had been in Afghanistan.

And why that has happened,

because Afghanistan was forgotten.

And if again Afghanistan is forgotten and isolated,

no guarantee that it will not happen.

It can happen in the future as well.

(wind billowing)

(contemplative ambient music)

(upbeat rock music)

The rise of Islamic fundamentalism

in Afghanistan began in the late '60s

as the elite in Kabul embraced a Western way of life

and a youth dreamed of a socialist revolution.

But many of Afghans were uncomfortable with these changes.

The violent communist takeover in 1978

and the repression of Islam further widened the gap.

(protestors chanting)

The Mujahidin, the holy warriors,

stood up against the communist government.

In Afghanistan,

the faithful Mujahideen are fighting

to establish a pure Islamic government.

What started as an insurgency became a war

(explosions blasting)

once the Soviet Army entered Afghanistan

to support the communist regime.

The courage of the Mujahidin turned them into a legend.

I remember when I become teenager,

one of my dream was that we will go

and we will distribute water to the freedom fighters.

The Mujahidin received international support

from the USA as well as from the Muslim world.

In the 1980s, Osama bin Laden came to Afghanistan

to join the war against the godless Soviets.

Politics is always dirty.

And the countries who are involved,

they choose the most conservative group of people,

and train them,

and made them monsters just to get rid of the USSR.

(gunfire blasting)

(speaking in foreign language)

In 1989, after 10 years of combat,

the Soviet Army withdrew from Afghanistan.

One million people died in that war.

Millions more became refugees.

The Mujahidin had won.

But instead of building peace,

they fought among themselves for power

and destroyed much of Kabul and the rest of the country.

The resistance fighters of the '80s

became the war lords of the '90s.

Yeah, they destroy.

Mujahidin destroyed the dream of the nation.

In 1994,

a new force emerged, the Taliban.

A militia led by clerics

and made of young men raised in refugee camps.

With the support of Pakistan,

they overcame the warlords.

By 1996, the Taliban ruled over the country.

People were suffered from civil war badly.

When Taliban came,

amazing that they was been welcomed by Afghans.

The new rulers brought peace,

but enforced the harsh interpretation of Islamic law.

Alcohol and sports were forbidden.

Movie theaters were closed.

Women were segregated.

(speaking in foreign language)

Those who broke the law were heavily punished.

(speaking in foreign language)

Under the Taliban,

Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda found a safe haven

and a training ground to prepare their attack on America.

I don't know if I knew the news exactly on 11 or 12th,

because there were no national TV during the Taliban time

because they think pictures are haram.

First time I heard the name of Osama bin Laden after 9/11.

Oh, Osama bin Laden, who's he?

(speaking in foreign language)

He's some guy that Americans is looking after.

Okay, what the Taliban will, may do.

Osama bin Laden remains the prime suspect

and remains as yet untouchable inside Afghanistan.

People, they thought the United State of America will come

and they will maybe use their nuclear power.

And they will destroy the entire country

like Hiroshima, like Nagasaki, like other places.

We say, we all will die at once,

and we don't need to cry,

and we may not miss each other.

We were exhausting from war, and war,

and violence, and violence,

so we thought that's maybe the end of the Afghanistan.

Tonight, the United States of America

makes the following demands on the Taliban.

Deliver to United States authorities

all the leaders of al-Qaeda who hide in your land.

Every nation and every region

now has a decision to make.

Either you are with us

or you are with the terrorists.

(speaking in foreign language)

In the first place,

We do not have extradition treaties with any country.

Secondly, we have to say

that before anybody is extradited or punished,

there has to be something against him,

something which is proved.

And so far, we have no proof against bin Laden.

(protestors chanting)

(speaking in foreign language)

I can hear you!

The rest of the world hears you!

(people applauding)

And the people who knocked these buildings down

will hear all of us soon!

(people applauding)

USA! USA! USA! USA!

The drum beats for invading Afghanistan were very loud.

Then, I started getting calls from Afghans.

The Taliban would like to talk to you.

Would you call this satellite number?

I said, okay, who am I calling?

And it was Muttawakil,

the foreign minister of the Taliban

and his interpreter at the time.

And they said, "Mr. Milton, this is important.

Osama bin Laden is no longer under our protection.

And we will say it again,

that man is no longer under our protection.

Just go get him."

I called the White House

and the White House said, well, that's a nice start.

And I thought, you guys want to invade, A,

and, B, you don't know where bin Laden is.

On my orders,

the United States military has begun strikes

against the al-Qaeda terrorist training camps

and military installations

of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

(explosion blasting)

Well, the sound of B52 was like a nightmare.

During the Taliban,

at least big cities was in a very safe environment.

So people forgot the sounds of,

let's say, guns and war machines.

And again, it starts.

(speaking in foreign language)

Less than a month

after the attack on the World Trade Center,

US and British Special Forces were flown in

to hunt for bin Laden

and topple the Taliban regime which had protected him.

Osama bin Laden managed to escape,

but before disappearing, he gave one last interview.

(speaking in foreign language)

The Western troops needed local help

to move faster on the ground,

so they reached out to their old allies,

former Mujahidin commanders

who had fought against the Soviets in the '80s

and had been defeated by the Taliban in the Civil War,

the so-called Northern Alliance.

The commanders accepted the offer.

At once, they could take their revenge

and return to power.

(singing in foreign language)

(speaking in foreign language)

Within weeks,

the Northern Alliance managed to get closer to Kabul.

Everybody wanted to go,

at least all the people I knew wanted to go,

but clearly, the initial response

was gonna be done by some special operating forces.

We were cheering on,

but everybody in their heart of hearts that wasn't there

was disappointed that they weren't gonna be a part of that.

At the very beginning,

we expected this long painful fight

like the Soviets had had.

But some airstrikes, some different things,

and the Taliban starts to collapse.

(speaking in foreign language)

We were a little concerned,

more than a little,

that al-Qaeda didn't seem to have been rounded up

and destroyed.

They seemed to have slipped away.

But if you separate al-Qaeda now,

Afghanistan, you've got the collapsed Taliban regime

and you go, well, okay.

Well, maybe that's it.

Now, everybody was pulling out books on history

and trying to read up on background of Afghanistan,

but there was very little understanding

or appreciation for what really,

not just the Soviet War,

but what the Civil War in the '90s

had done to the political structure,

who was running things,

the rise of the warlords.

There was very little appreciation

that this was a very strange corrupted society.

And anything we do to touch it is gonna be different.

In November, 2001,

the Taliban regime dissolved

and the commanders could enter the capital, Kabul.

It seemed the beginning of a new era, an era of hope.

(speaking in foreign language)

It was such a wonderful time.

(exhaling) Oxygen.

I can breathe.

Now, it's a different Afghanistan.

We realized American are not there to kill us.

They are just looking after Taliban.

Wonderful.

(people chattering) (hopeful instrumental music)

(people applauding)

(speaking in foreign language)

(children chattering)

The people start the generator

and the motor of the society to move.

And a flood of the refugees

and the Afghans diaspora from other countries was just,

Kabul was like growing up and being expanding the size.

Over three million Afghans

had fled since the '70s.

Many of these refugees lived in Pakistan

and were finally free to return home.

(speaking in foreign language)

(contemplative orchestral music)

Politicians and diplomats convened in Bonn

to help Afghanistan form a new government.

They collect bunch of people from across the world

and they put them in a room and say,

"You have to decide who will be the interim government head,

and who will be the deputies, and who will be the minister."

So it's like a cake.

Okay, guys, let's come, and share it, and eat it,

and everything will be fantastic.

The new government

included Northern Alliance commanders

who had defeated the Taliban,

representatives of various ethnic groups,

and historically, two women.

And 5th of December, in early morning,

my son called me and said

that you're Minister of Women's Affair

and you're Vice President for President Karzai.

Karzai had become president

and I didn't know Karzai.

Hamid Karzai.

Hamid Karzai was chosen

to lead a transition government,

the son of a tribal leader

and a member of the main ethnic group,

the Pashtun.

He was active against the Soviets first

and the Taliban later.

His task was to lead Afghanistan to unity and peace.

This new position which they give to me,

Ministry of Women's Affair.

This one doesn't exist before in Afghanistan,

so the other ministries at least has a destroyed building,

or at least there is a piece of land

belong to that ministry.

For Ministry of Women's Affair, there's nothing,

so I don't know where I'm going to stay.

After year of chaos and oppression,

a fragile democracy came to Afghanistan.

A new constitution was drafted.

Millions of men and women were given the right to vote.

I struggled a lot for the constitution.

It was a very tough journey I had.

I left my daughter.

I was not on her first birthday.

A little child.

I was away from home for a couple of months

just for the sake of Afghan.

I collect their ideas

and coming back and drafting the constitution.

I believe Afghanistan need new leaders.

Afghanistan need new vision with new ideas.

We should build for new Afghanistan.

However,

the new democratic institutions

had to contend with the intimidating presence

of commanders and warlords who had taken part

in the destruction of Afghanistan in the '90s.

The new president was asked to limit their influence.

Be sure that warlordism is over in Afghanistan.

You may not see the signs, ma'am, but it's over.

And we'll make sure that it's over.

And there too is a good question you asked.

We will have the help of the United States to do that.

So I had a meeting with Colin Powell.

And I told Colin Powell,

"We should not, we should not revitalize the warlords."

Not in favor of killing people and prosecution of people,

but I am in favor of truth.

I am in favor of healing of the wound of the victims.

Unless we heal the wound, the wound is going to bleed.

(speaking in foreign language)

After 2001, then we went in,

and then we put all the same guys.

We call them warlords.

I mean, it's the guy in charge.

The Amir the, whoever.

There's always going to be somebody in charge.

What name do you want to give them?

You're going to have to deal with them.

All Mujahideen leaders,

all this collection comes in parliament.

And I was member of parliament and I welcomed them.

Okay, yes, please.

I don't know.

For some reason, my face, my dress code,

my outfit was not very good for them.

And they (indistinct) me a lot.

And particularly with the headscarf.

Whenever it was falling down,

they were asking me to,

sister, please put it on, please put it on.

And one day, I was really not in a good mood

because it was a very serious debate about the law.

So I just turned my face and I was very loud,

and I say, "This is my head and this is my scarf.

Whom you are in between, say.

It's between me and God."

It's not easy for any mother to work under same roof

because of those people that my country was destroyed

and I lost my kids.

But I thought if I go for revenge,

it will make me very weak.

It's better for me to remember what happened.

So therefore, I start to work with them.

(aircraft whirring)

Since 2002,

international troops had been stationed in Afghanistan

to enforce security and help their reconstruction.

51 countries had contributed to the mission

under the leadership of NATO.

I arrived in May

and we became the first three star headquarters in.

I felt that the Americans

and all Westerners were generally welcomed.

In fact, in some cases, very, very enthusiastically.

The West didn't know what it wanted to do.

It didn't know how much it wanted to invest in Afghanistan.

It didn't know how involved it wanted to be.

It was an absolute disorganized mess,

that's what jumped out at me.

I once used a description,

it was like us being college kids in a "Star Wars" bar

or mafia run bar.

We didn't understand it a bit.

(speaking in foreign language)

A period of reconstruction began.

Cities, particularly the capital, Kabul,

benefited from the aid

and investments coming in from abroad.

But the money often ended up

in the pockets of only a handful of people.

(speaking in foreign language)

Meanwhile, the Afghan population was in desperate need.

After decades of war,

millions lacked the most essential resources.

The situation was even worse in the countryside.

Largely forgotten by the international investments,

extreme poverty and widespread corruption

triggered nostalgia for the Taliban years.

These days, they suck your blood.

Even governments take bribes

just for doing something illegal.

The Taliban beat women and there were restrictions,

but at least there was no bribery.

(speaking in foreign language)

By 2005, the Taliban reorganized

and the mission of the International Coalition

became more complicated.

(speaking in foreign language)

(gunfire blasting)

(speaking in foreign language)

About 2005 and six,

my forces had some brutal battles,

and I'm talking with large numbers of people

doing a lot of killing.

(soldiers yelling) (gunfire blasting)

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

Are you okay, Eleanor?

(soldiers yelling) (gunfire blasting)

You're trying to tell people,

this is getting pretty serious.

The Taliban are able to generate a lot of combat power.

And every time they can generate combat power,

they have the ability to generate credibility.

And then you started to see the Taliban owning the ground

in the areas like Helmand and Kandahar,

running a shadow economy with taxation of movement

and things like that.

And suddenly, they become

the de facto power brokers in the area.

(speaking in foreign language)

Great God in Heaven, dear Jesus,

we pray for our leadership from every corporal

all the way up through the president.

You know, I'm from a fairly small town in Indiana,

and I had never really been outside the country.

You know, I didn't know much about the world.

And I think at the time,

I really believed that we were making a difference

and that we were trying to fight terrorism abroad.

When I went to Afghanistan,

I think it just opened my eyes how naive I was

and how complex the world is.

One particular night, we went to a compound.

It's like 2:30 in the morning.

We've woken everybody up.

And I'm trying to talk to the woman

who's kind of the head of the household.

I said, "Well, we're here

because there are apparently pretty bad people

operating in this area,

and we need to figure out what's going on."

And she basically told me, you know,

"Why do you think you're any different than the Taliban?

You come to my home at 2:00 a.m.,

you threaten me.

You know, they do the same thing.

What side am I supposed to choose?"

You know?

She's like if I work with the Taliban, you come after me.

If I work with you, the Taliban come after me.

And I think for me,

that was the first time I realized

that most of the Afghan people

were just stuck in the middle.

(speaking in foreign language)

Traditional warfare is straightforward, right?

One army versus another.

That's what we had been trained to do.

Unfortunately, an insurgency is much more complex.

You don't know who the bad guy is.

They don't have to wear a uniform.

You could have good people,

you could have bad people,

and you can tell them apart.

(gunfire blasting)

Once we started to get shot at,

we started to withdraw right into our bases.

So there's no way to meaningfully connect

with the population.

So I think for most people,

it was easier to just hate the Afghans

and stick with your own tribe, so to speak.

(loud thudding)

How's it going, man?

Those soldiers had a kind of fear.

They always keep distance.

It was not really pleasant for me

to read a sign on the military vehicles

that I should keep a distance away from them.

Otherwise, they can shoot.

The challenge for us was

if you wanted to win the war in Afghanistan,

you had to get the support of the Afghan people,

not the love, the support.

To get the support of the people,

you have to first, not kill them,

and make it in their interest to side with you.

The challenge with that is

if the enemy creates enough violence

and they put you in a violent mode yourself,

then you have to have more armored vehicles.

You tend to use artillery.

You tend to do these things.

You become a source of violence

that kills the very people, unintentionally,

kills the people you're trying to deal with.

(yelling in foreign language)

These are the hostilities left behind

less than 24 hours after an ISAF raid on Wednesday

to capture a Taliban commander.

ISAF says they succeeded,

but also killed three others,

Afghans the Americans claim showed hostile intent.

They opened the door

and we went to see who it was.

My brother talked to them in English

and I don't know what he said,

but they told him to stop and shut up.

And then they shot my brothers.

They would not allow me near their bodies

and kept holding me back.

I'm not sure Afghanistan

was where we should've been to begin with.

And the longer we were there,

I feel like the worse it got

and in the worse we made it for the people of Afghanistan.

We were certainly trying to impose our worldview

and that's just not how it works.

And we realized that.

Well, I hope we realized that.

I'm not sure.

Increasing violence

between coalition forces and insurgents

caught the Afghan population in the middle.

The expression collateral damage

became an all too familiar description

for the many innocent civilians killed by accident.

People ought to begin to understand

that this isn't a good idea to invade Afghanistan.

It hasn't worked out for the last 2,400 years.

And if you pay attention to history at all,

that should be a clue.

Don't get involved in insurgency warfare

unless you're on the side of the insurgents.

When President Obama was elected in 2008,

he inherited an unpopular war

that had claimed the lives of hundreds of U.S. soldiers.

After 10 years on the run,

Osama bin Laden was finally killed.

He was found not in Afghanistan, but in Pakistan.

The United States has conducted an operation

that killed Osama bin Laden,

the leader of al-Qaeda.

The initial goal

of the Afghan campaign was accomplished.

A few months later,

Obama announced his intention to withdraw the troops.

(speaking in foreign language)

(siren blaring) (contemplative ambient music)

Everywhere, they met suicide attack.

For the insurgents,

they're usually claiming

that they're against foreign troops.

But the casualty,

the large number casualty was among the people.

(explosion blasting) (vehicle horns blaring)

It was 2014.

The suicide car clash with my car.

When I opened my eyes, my driver, he was crying.

I had no idea what happened.

Nine people died

and more than 30 people was been wounded.

It was such a bad feeling I had.

(explosion blasting)

The first blast rocked Kabul around 6:30 a.m.

Hours after the attack took place

and bodies are still being removed.

According to security forces,

several fighters were involved in this attack,

all wearing suicide vest and carrying automatic weapons.

With fewer coalition troops on the ground

and the Taliban violence increasing,

many foreign companies and NGOs decided to leave.

Afghans were once again left alone

to deal with the fallout of war.

(speaking in foreign language)

For 40 years,

Afghanistan has been caught in a trap,

a vicious cycle.

A failed government leads to invasion.

Then a struggle against the invasion

leads to another failed government.

In 2018, the new president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani,

announced peace talks with the Taliban,

offering them full recognition as a political party.

The future of Afghanistan is uncertain.

What we do know

is that in order to break the vicious cycles of the past,

the country will need the strong voice of its women.

(speaking in foreign language)

We can solve the problem by talking and negotiating,

by tolerating each other, and by respecting each other.

We can disagree, but we don't need to kill each other.

You know, this world was teach me a lot.

It's teach me a lot.

Despite of how much we fall down,

how much we've broken,

again, we are standing and we are rebuilding ourself.

That's why Afghanistan is so beautiful.

(contemplative orchestral music)