WEBVTT

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Afghanistan is facing more than 30 years bombing.

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But no one hears that sound.

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No one sees what is happening here.

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The world is talking about Al-Qaeda.

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The world is talking about the Taliban.

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The world is talking about the war going south or north.

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Nobody talks about the people of Afghanistan.

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As if we did not exist.

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Whose country is this?

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Everybody wants this little piece of territory.

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It\'s not new, but it\'s deadlier, much deadlier.

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We have been Muslim for 1,200 years.

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Afghanistan was always a moderate Islamic nation

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and not a radical nation.

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We believed in \"live and let live.\"

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People who are not Islamic

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lived their life

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without being killed, without being kidnapped.

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Tourism was flourishing.

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When people came in here to stay for a week,

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they ended up staying here for a year.

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I had plans for the next 50 years.

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It all came to an end in April of 1978.

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That was the start of hell for Afghanistan.

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When I saw the Soviet army on the streets of Kabul,

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mighty Soviet army,

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that date, I knew that we would see the back of them.

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No matter how much casualties we take,

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how much destruction in the country,

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we would see them leaving.

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We sacraficed 3 million of our people

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fighting the Soviet Union.

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There isn’t a single family in Afghanistan

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that has not lost someone during this movement.

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Ahmad Shah Massoud was

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a mujahideen commander who

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fairly universally regarded as a brilliant strategist.

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He withstood numerous Soviet campaigns.

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He had a real air of someone special about him.

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We were sure that we were on the right cause.

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We were hopeful that this country has a future.

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And the support from the people was guaranteed.

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While being with Commander Massoud,

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we used to talk about the future of this country.

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What sort of a system this country needs

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in order for the people to be able

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to live together in peace and dignity.

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He was saying, there will be fighting,

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but the end solution for this country:

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one person, one vote.

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The world should have paid more attention

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to the sacrafice that our people made

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for the security of the world

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and for the freedom of the world.

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The eyes were taken off Afghanistan

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and we were left pretty much to float on our own.

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Here was a nation that had just gone through 10 years of war,

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a destroyed central government,

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no money, completely bankrupt.

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And after having sacrificed 3 million of our people,

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we were said, \'Well, thank you, but goodbye.\'

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And today, we realize the mistake

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of that decision.

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After the withdrawal of the Soviets, the Americans,

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they didn\'t pay attention to Afghanistan

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so there was a security vacuum.

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And Afghanistan was a hotbed for the terrorists and Taliban.

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Most of the destruction that

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we saw in Afghanistan was done during this period of time

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when brother was killing brother.

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In 1994, I went to Afghanistan for the first time.

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The first thing that struck me was

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how bare everything was.

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There was no fat left in the land.

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Like bones picked dry.

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People were being killed.

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Anywhere in the city you weren\'t safe.

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I mean, you could get bombed and shot and robbed.

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There was a part of the city

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that was really bombed very badly.

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It had been described as Dresden after the war.

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We saw this old guy at a window.

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And he sort of waved and said, \'Come up.\'

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They hadn\'t seen too many Westerners

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and certainly not people walking around.

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Maybe he thought

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it would be good for his sons

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to meet somebody from the outside world.

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The mother had died of an illness

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and there were four boys and a father.

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The warlords were fighting.

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In every intersection.

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Everybody was scared.

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Evening time there was fear of rockets.

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You could get killed from any direction.

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It was a time we should have been

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going to school, getting education,

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enjoying our time with our friends.

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But that was not the case.

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My brother died in a rocket attack.

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He was 22 years old.

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I feel shocked when I remember that scene.

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My brother Shapoor,

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he was interested to fight with the mujahideen.

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My father and I tried our best to stop him.

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But he was stubborn guy.

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The economy was so bad

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that the whole country was starving.

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It was a terrible life.

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My friends in the neighborhood,

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they went to Pakistan, Iran, Europe, and America.

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Sometimes I was jealous of them.

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We had to stay here to look for work

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to support my family.

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All we could do was to wait and suffer.

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My father, he asked me to

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go get some bread from the bakery.

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I got near the bakery

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and suddenly a rocket hit.

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I was conscious, I remember.

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A few people from the neighborhood,

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they took me to the hospital.

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And the doctors decided that they should cut part of my leg.

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So I lost my leg there.

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It was a different kind of fear.

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It was a different kind of darkness.

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It was the Taliban.

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Around 90 percent of the country was under Taliban control.

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And Osama bin Laden was freelancing throughout the country.

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The Taliban were talking about tenets of Islam.

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And then they said that we will bring law and order and peace.

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The international community doesn’t realize

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how dangerous these people and their associates are.

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And they will pay the price before they realize this.

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On the second trip, when Taliban had taken Kabul,

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they didn\'t really want me to come to their building.

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So we met in this abandoned little office.

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I had done a shot on the roof two years before,

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and I thought that would be the picture

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that would really show change.

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Two of the boys had been killed in the fighting.

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There were now only three, rather than five.

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The father, terrified to be seen by the Taliban,

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who were roaming the streets below.

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The two younger guys, Farhuddin and Farhad,

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they were trying to grow beards

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because if you were on the street

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and you didn\'t have facial hair,

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and the Taliban saw you,

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they could beat you up or imprison you.

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Taliban were very cruel people.

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They were teasing people.

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Why you trim your beard?

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Why you don\'t go to mosque?

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Why you do this, why you do that?

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They snatched our freedom from us.

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Everybody was afraid.

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The stories of harsh treatment

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of the people by the Taliban

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is unbelievable.

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Human beings were degraded to subhuman levels.

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We saw this guy with these bones in front of him

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and said to him,

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\'Human bones?\' Ha-ha-ha.

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And he said, ‘Yeah, some of them are.’

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We find out that the Taliban had banned scrap metal trade,

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which probably helped a lot of people survive.

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So people were taking now to gathering bones.

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Bones would get collected

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and they would be driven off in a truck to Pakistan

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where they were boiling it down to make cooking oil and soap.

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If they were using human bones,

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where would they get them from?

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The cemeteries.

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And who would be doing it?

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It would be the kids.

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They’re literally taking the bones out of the graves.

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Without Commander Massoud in the leadership,

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there was no hope for survival of the resistance.

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We had a big vulnerability

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and Taliban were aware of this.

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Al-Qaeda was aware of this.

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And that\'s why they made attempts against him

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and then they succeeded in September 2001.

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It was quite a shock.

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I mean, I just, he\'s one of those guys

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you think he’s never going to get killed.

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Two Al-Qaeda guys masqueraded as journalists

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and killed Massoud two days before 9/11.

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That was, and that still is, the saddest day of my life.

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It wasn\'t just a political leader

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or a military commander dying.

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It was a great friend,

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and hope for the future of this country.

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Somebody which had taken the responsibility

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of challenging terrorism in this country

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on his own shoulders.

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The attack on 9/11 was an attack by Al-Qaeda.

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Al-Qaeda were conducting operations from Afghanistan.

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They had a country to themselves.

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On my orders,

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the United States military has begun strikes

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against Al-Qaeda terrorist training camps

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and military installations

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of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

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When the Americans started bombing Taliban front lines,

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people were pretty ecstatic.

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You\'d see a group of people on a rooftop pointing up,

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all smiling faces.

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What this meant was that pretty soon

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the Taliban were going to be kicked out of Kabul

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and they could return home.

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2001, the Americans first came,

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the people were welcoming the soldiers.

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They were under the perception that

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the American is here to bring democracy,

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bring peace and security and a new Afghanistan.

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The Americans have started this movie

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and now the people are waiting

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to see the sweet ending.

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There was a sort of honeymoon period.

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People immediately started having their beards chopped off.

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Doing all the things that they couldn\'t do under the Taliban.

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Schools re-opened for girls.

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Women went to work again.

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So there was a big optimism.

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People that have come here to help Afghanistan,

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they sit behind barbed wire.

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And they haven\'t taken the time

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to understand what this society is about.

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They are making strategies

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for Afghanistan without talking to any Afghans.

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We\'re looking over their shoulder

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and saying, \'Do it our way.\'

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And that\'s why it\'s not working.

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There is a lack of respect for our way of life.

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We may be illiterate, but we’re not stupid.

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We may not be able to read or write.

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But we have ears that can hear

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and we have eyes that can see.

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You cannot succeed in Afghanistan

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unless you understand the Afghan psyche.

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So before you roll into the village,

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you must understand what the people are about.

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Invasion of Iraq was a huge setback for Afghanistan

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because the focus of attention and support

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moved to another place.

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The Taliban and the insurgency started coming back.

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And so what we\'re seeing in Afghanistan now,

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suicide bombing, kidnapping,

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the Afghans largely wouldn’t have tolerated before.

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Afghan people ask and want to be free.

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To have a job.

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To believe in religion.

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But there is a minority in Afghanistan

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against human right values.

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And unfortunately this minority

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speak in the name of Afghan people.

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They didn’t have this kind of fanatic ideas before;

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these are all

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imported ideas from neighboring countries.

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It\'s physically impossible

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to put a protective umbrella around the entire population

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that prevents Tommy Taliban from coming in

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and whispering in your ear and going,

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\'Hey, saw you\'re working with the coalition.

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I see you doing that again,

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I\'m gonna kill your kid, I\'m gonna rape your wife.\'

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You know, so we can\'t stop that from happening.

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We have to enable them because we can\'t protect them.

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The ability to enforce law,

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your ability to put somebody in some sort of penal system,

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your ability to adjudicate disputes,

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that’s all been knocked at its roots.

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And you have Mr. Taliban coming in

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and that\'s one of the things that he offers

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is quick, swift, brutal justice.

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We\'re not in a position to do what he can do

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and it\'s not really what the people want.

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But they want something better than nothing.

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I often wonder, you know,

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when these American soldiers are searching for weapons,

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whether they know or they think about where

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this amount of weaponry came from.

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America, they’ve trained these mujahideen

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to fight the cold war in Afghanistan.

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By doing that they flood the country with so much weaponry.

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And of course

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the guns they\'re finding in arms caches are often

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machinery that\'s been paid for by the American government

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and the American taxpayer.

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It wasn’t until 2002 that I found them again.

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It was just the two of them.

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They were living in this not very nice place.

00:18:21.567 --> 00:18:24.133
The father was now dead.

00:18:21.567 --> 00:18:29.667
Although they\'d been through so much bad stuff

00:18:29.667 --> 00:18:30.934
in their lives,

00:18:30.934 --> 00:18:32.400
losing their father was just terrible.

00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:33.534
It was like the end.

00:18:33.534 --> 00:18:36.000
I started to leave

00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:37.901
and

00:18:37.901 --> 00:18:39.467
Farhuddin just says,

00:18:39.467 --> 00:18:41.234
\'Oh, by the way, I\'m engaged to get married.\'

00:18:41.234 --> 00:18:44.200
Amid all this desolation

00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:46.367
there was actually some kind of hope.

00:18:47.234 --> 00:18:51.367
2003, he was married.

00:18:51.367 --> 00:18:55.334
I was a little bit pissed off that I missed this.

00:18:55.334 --> 00:18:56.334
And he saw this.

00:18:56.334 --> 00:18:58.670
Farhuddin said, \'Look, well, I have a photograph.

00:18:58.670 --> 00:18:59.300
I have a photograph.\'

00:18:59.300 --> 00:19:02.667
And we spent the whole day

00:19:02.667 --> 00:19:05.133
driving around from family to family.

00:19:05.133 --> 00:19:06.234
Eventually we found it.

00:19:06.234 --> 00:19:09.670
And it was the worst exposure I\'d ever seen in my life.

00:19:09.670 --> 00:19:12.434
You could hardly see what was going on there.

00:19:12.434 --> 00:19:15.567
And I think he saw that I was a bit disappointed.

00:19:15.567 --> 00:19:16.200
It was agreed

00:19:16.200 --> 00:19:18.334
that I would be able to photograph him and his wife.

00:19:18.334 --> 00:19:22.501
And his wife would not be covering her face.

00:19:22.501 --> 00:19:24.200
We pulled off the road,

00:19:24.200 --> 00:19:26.467
didn’t want anyone to see us

00:19:26.467 --> 00:19:28.501
because it might cause trouble.

00:19:49.434 --> 00:19:53.267
Reconstruction really was building from scratch.

00:19:53.267 --> 00:19:56.133
You could see development.

00:19:56.133 --> 00:19:57.267
You could see

00:19:57.267 --> 00:20:00.330
modern office buildings in the middle of Kabul.

00:20:01.334 --> 00:20:04.601
Lots of cars.

00:20:04.601 --> 00:20:07.100
Huge traffic jams.

00:20:04.601 --> 00:20:11.767
People had money.

00:20:11.767 --> 00:20:15.200
But then the price of living was skyrocketing.

00:20:18.968 --> 00:20:23.167
There were big changes at breakneck speed.

00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:27.267
There\'s too much money here

00:20:27.267 --> 00:20:30.868
and it\'s being wasted.

00:20:30.868 --> 00:20:34.167
Just spend the money and send a report in

00:20:34.167 --> 00:20:36.330
and get more money.

00:20:36.330 --> 00:20:38.968
This is the American way, the power of the dollar

00:20:38.968 --> 00:20:41.267
and, \'Do it now!\'

00:20:41.267 --> 00:20:45.801
Americans are not very good about nation-building.

00:20:45.801 --> 00:20:47.601
We never have been.

00:20:47.601 --> 00:20:51.330
Unfortunately, we have implanted

00:20:51.330 --> 00:20:53.434
the sense of dependency.

00:20:53.434 --> 00:20:55.901
Afghans have prided themselves

00:20:55.901 --> 00:20:58.167
about being self-sufficient.

00:20:58.167 --> 00:21:01.133
If you give them access to knowledge,

00:21:01.133 --> 00:21:05.330
I think more than half of your rebuilding

00:21:05.330 --> 00:21:07.601
will be done by them themselves

00:21:07.601 --> 00:21:12.734
without the need to have outsiders helping them.

00:21:24.934 --> 00:21:29.200
In 2004, they had their very first democratic election.

00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:32.100
There were a lot of threats by insurgents that

00:21:32.100 --> 00:21:34.767
they were going to attack polling stations,

00:21:34.767 --> 00:21:38.634
kill lots of people, especially women.

00:21:38.634 --> 00:21:41.901
And women came out in record numbers.

00:21:41.901 --> 00:21:46.534
There was that much faith in change.

00:21:50.534 --> 00:21:54.300
It was all very new and exciting.

00:21:54.300 --> 00:21:56.801
And, you know, great hope.

00:21:56.801 --> 00:21:59.701
It was all going to happen.

00:21:59.701 --> 00:22:02.300
Being a politician in Afghanistan, it’s a problem.

00:22:02.300 --> 00:22:04.767
Being a young politician, it\'s double problem,

00:22:04.767 --> 00:22:06.367
and being a woman,

00:22:06.367 --> 00:22:09.167
young woman politician, it\'s triple problem.

00:22:09.167 --> 00:22:11.000
We shouldn\'t expect

00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:13.667
to see real democracy within one or two elections.

00:22:13.667 --> 00:22:16.367
It will take tens of elections

00:22:16.367 --> 00:22:18.400
and we have to be patient.

00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:21.234
The younger generation are the only group

00:22:21.234 --> 00:22:22.901
who can guarantee

00:22:22.901 --> 00:22:25.334
a better future for this country.

00:22:25.334 --> 00:22:29.467
They are being used as soldiers by Taliban or Al-Qaeda.

00:22:29.467 --> 00:22:32.400
If we cannot use this energy,

00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:36.000
of course it will go to the wrong direction.

00:22:54.601 --> 00:22:58.434
We lost our family members.

00:22:58.434 --> 00:23:00.901
That’s what God planned for them.

00:23:03.868 --> 00:23:08.234
We still miss them.

00:23:08.234 --> 00:23:12.634
I\'m sure they\'re in good places.

00:23:12.634 --> 00:23:16.670
I went back in 2010 and saw the family again.

00:23:17.267 --> 00:23:20.330
They\'re both working as tailors.

00:23:22.801 --> 00:23:26.968
You really get a sense that life is on the up.

00:23:26.968 --> 00:23:30.567
Farhuddin and his wife have two boys.

00:23:30.567 --> 00:23:33.834
The younger one has inherited my character.

00:23:33.834 --> 00:23:37.667
He speaks like me. He acts like me. He walks like me.

00:23:37.667 --> 00:23:43.934
The elder one, he has inherited characters from his mother.

00:23:44.501 --> 00:23:46.400
I asked Farhuddin,

00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:48.934
\'What are your hopes?\'

00:23:49.767 --> 00:23:52.534
Of course he’s thinking about his sons.

00:23:52.534 --> 00:23:54.767
Making sure the kids get an education.

00:23:54.767 --> 00:23:59.000
I’m sure he’s thinking about what he’s been through,

00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:03.234
and I’m sure he doesn’t want that for his own children.

00:24:10.968 --> 00:24:14.901
We\'ve got doctors working as translators.

00:24:14.901 --> 00:24:16.300
We\'ve got engineers

00:24:16.300 --> 00:24:19.133
selling telephone cards on the street.

00:24:19.133 --> 00:24:23.670
Or if they get an opportunity, they run away.

00:24:23.670 --> 00:24:26.400
Anything to get away from here to earn some money.

00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:30.330
We have 90 percent unemployment among the educated,

00:24:30.330 --> 00:24:32.000
which is the most dangerous.

00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:34.267
The society is so broken,

00:24:34.267 --> 00:24:36.100
and it is so downtrodden.

00:24:36.100 --> 00:24:38.501
Today, you can\'t even go out of your house

00:24:38.501 --> 00:24:40.234
without being concerned about

00:24:40.234 --> 00:24:41.667
being blown up by a suicide bomber.

00:24:44.868 --> 00:24:48.670
The only way you are going to bring peace to the country

00:24:48.670 --> 00:24:50.167
is if the people are at peace.

00:24:50.167 --> 00:24:51.734
If the people are not at peace,

00:24:51.734 --> 00:24:53.467
how the heck are you going to bring peace?

00:24:53.467 --> 00:24:57.133
Afghans don\'t trust the foreigners.

00:24:57.133 --> 00:25:01.000
The foreigners don\'t trust the Afghans.

00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:05.100
Afghans don\'t trust each other.

00:25:05.100 --> 00:25:09.968
So how can you build a nation without trust?

00:25:05.100 --> 00:25:17.434
Our troops will continue coming home at a steady pace

00:25:17.434 --> 00:25:21.167
as Afghan Security forces move into the lead.

00:25:21.167 --> 00:25:25.868
By 2014, this process of transition will be complete,

00:25:25.868 --> 00:25:28.467
and the Afghan people will be responsible

00:25:28.467 --> 00:25:29.968
for their own security.

00:25:28.467 --> 00:25:36.834
The Taliban tell people now,

00:25:36.834 --> 00:25:38.767
international community and Americans

00:25:38.767 --> 00:25:41.434
are getting out and we are back.

00:25:41.434 --> 00:25:43.300
And we will govern you.

00:25:43.300 --> 00:25:45.934
So their victory is secure.

00:25:45.934 --> 00:25:49.434
And the people, they don\'t have any other options.

00:25:49.434 --> 00:25:52.767
They have to side with the Taliban.

00:25:52.767 --> 00:25:56.367
This is a nightmare for the people.

00:25:56.367 --> 00:26:00.133
We need the presence of international community here

00:26:00.133 --> 00:26:02.133
and long-term commitment

00:26:02.133 --> 00:26:05.100
to make this process successful.

00:26:05.100 --> 00:26:07.200
What is at stake here

00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:10.167
is stability and peace around the world.

00:26:10.167 --> 00:26:13.467
So that message should be loud and clear

00:26:13.467 --> 00:26:16.701
and reinforced time and again

00:26:16.701 --> 00:26:18.133
so there is no mistake.