Speaker
1: |
Last
October in the middle of the night, the last fragment of moderate Afghanistan
fled through these mountains. The Taliban army had just taken over. 30,000
people made it here to the Panjshir Valley and the world has barely heard of
them since. It was expected that they'd perish, just another footnote in the
Taliban story. But they've managed to survive and today, they're fighting
back. |
Speaker
2: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
1: |
These
soldiers are the remnants of the government troops who'd escaped from Kabul.
It was here in this narrow gorge that they dug in and finally stopped the
Taliban assault. |
|
This
is the entrance to the Panjshir Valley and the Taliban are just over this
ridge. When the government troops pass through here, they blew up the road
behind them blocking the Taliban out and themselves in for the duration of
the long Afghan winter. But now, the snows are melting and the battle for the
Panjshir and Afghanistan is starting again. |
|
Since
they lost Kabul, this hut has become the centre of power for the government
of Afghanistan. Which part military headquarters, part parliament house, and
part town hall. And this man is effectively the leader of each of them.
Mujahideen commander, Ahmad Shah Massoud. Massoud's been a military commander for almost 20 years,
but today he faces literally, the fight of his life. |
Ahmad
Massoud: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
1: |
The
struggle to survive militarily is just one of Massoud's
problems. Keeping people fed is even more pressing and it seems he's the only
focus for a quest for food, fuel, medicine, and housing. |
Ahmad
Massoud: |
[foreign
language] |
Mehrdad: |
Taliban,
they put pressure on the people. They don't try to make the freedom. |
Speaker
1: |
It's
volunteers like engineer [Mehrdad], that Massoud is
relying upon to bring some government and wealth here to the Panjshir. He's a
specialist in plant genetics and like virtually all other educated moderates,
he fled Kabul as the Taliban approached. |
Mehrdad: |
They
don't parliament women, you know, go to school. They don't parliament the
girls, go to school university. At least I like my children they now go to
university, if it be my son, if it be my daughter. |
Speaker
1: |
With
27 relatives crammed into this old jeep, he drove through the night to reach,
what is for him, the last tolerant corner of Afghanistan. |
Mehrdad: |
For
this, I feel freedom here. I like, you know, nobody bother me. I do my work,
I do my job and I take care my family, and the village I like. I live in this
area. This is the reason. |
Speaker
1: |
Today, Mehrdad responsible for feeding and housing
the thousands of refugees who are trapped inside the valley. There's no large
international aid programmes here, just a broke government, the shelter of
mosques, and the help of neighbours to keep people alive. |
Mehrdad: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
5: |
[foreign
language] |
Mehrdad: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
5: |
[foreign
language] |
Mehrdad: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
5: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
1: |
These
families lost everything when they fled their village of Charikar,
outside of Kabul. |
Speaker
5: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
1: |
Although
the outspokenness of these women would be unheard of under the Taliban, it
was not issues of feminism or civil liberties that forced them to flee. As
Northern Afghans, they feared for their lives at the hands of the dominantly
Southern Taliban. And they fought for their lives to repel them. |
Speaker
6: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
5: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
6: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
7: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
1: |
These
men are Taliban soldiers captured by Massoud's
troops and now in prison in the Panjshir. |
Speaker
8: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
1: |
Almost
daily the Taliban are creating new interpretations of Islamic laws in the
areas they control. To the half million people who recently left Kabul, the
Taliban antics are becoming increasingly bizarre. But for these men, their
belief in their cause is unshaken. |
Speaker
9: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
10: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
1: |
These
refugees from Kabul are also a deeply religious people. To them the Taliban's
claim to a higher form of Islam is not only insulting, it's just more
extreme. For these people, the Taliban are merely servants of Pakistan.
Created, armed, and advised by Pakistani intelligence. For them, the battle
is not against fellow Muslims, but against a front for foreign powers. And in
the Panjshir, as Massoud knows, nothing draws
people together more than a foreign invader. |
|
It
was in the Panjshir that the most decisive battles against the might of the
Russian army were fought. And today, the remnants of a decade of war are
still being well worked over. It was from his base in the Panjshir that Massoud and his mujahideen devastated the Russian army.
Ousted the communist, and created the Afghan Republic. No one here forgets
that Massoud, even when the odds seem impossible,
has fought his way out of this valley before. |
|
A
few months ago, these men were students, farms, workers. In a few weeks,
their training will be complete and they'll form the backbone of Massoud's battle plan. |
|
Defending
the entrance to the Panjshir throughout winter bought Massoud
time to regroup and raise a volunteer army. With the mountain passes now
opening up, the major battles are about to begin. |
Speaker
11: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
1: |
I've
seen some of your new recruits and many of them seem rather raw. Can they be
any match for far more seasoned Taliban troops? |
Speaker
11: |
[foreign
language] |
Gul
Hadda: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
1: |
It's
veteran commanders like [Gul Hadda], that Massoud is relying upon to train his volunteer army. And
more importantly in the short term, to hold the line at the entrance to the
Panjshir. |
Gul
Hadda: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
13: |
[foreign
language] |
Gul
Hadda: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
13: |
[foreign
language] |
Gul
Hadda: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
1: |
One
by one. Where are we going? |
Gul
Hadda: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
1: |
The
Taliban are at the end of this gorge and two-thirds of the country lies
behind them. If they want all of Afghanistan they have to take this narrow
valley. To attack here, will be almost suicidal, but they've made such a tax
before and no one doubts that they'll do it again. |
Gul
Hadda: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
1: |
For
the past few weeks, Taliban forward scouts have been trying to map the front
line positions here in search for a path through this minefield. Gul Hadda knows that an attack is coming. The Taliban simply
cannot afford to leave Massoud's forces here, just
100 kilometres from their new capital. |
|
If
Massoud remains trapped inside the Panjshir, the
Taliban will destroy him. And to break out, he needs more than just his own
troops. It's clear his success now depends on finding other allies in the
north. No easy task in an area torn by civil war. To survive, Massoud now has to turn old enemies into allies. |
Ahmad
Massoud: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
1: |
The
time has come for Massoud to leave the valley and
travel across the rest of the north. He's just received news, an uprising of
his supporters in east Afghanistan has failed. They attacked alone and
without other active fronts, the Taliban swamped them with troops. A joint
military strategy for all of north Afghanistan has now become vital. |
Speaker
14: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
15: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
1: |
Massoud is travelling to a secret meeting. He's five hours from
the nearest town and for his bodyguards, it's tense place to break down. A
telling reflection on the lack of government and order across the fractured
north. |
Ahmad
Massoud: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
1: |
But
if Dostum and Hilali are former enemies of Massoud's, that they control, and Dostum in particular,
the largest arsenal of weapons in the country. |
|
Theoretically,
Dostum and Massoud became allies when Kabul fell,
but in reality, they haven't even met since then nor had any joint battle
plan. |
|
I
lasted about six seconds in the meeting with Dostum and the other commanders
before I was thrown out. But six hours later, Massoud
emerged with a deal. A joint government across the north and more
importantly, a merging of all military forces. |
Ahmad
Massoud: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
1: |
Deep
in the heart of the Panjshir, it's sometimes easy to forget the trauma that
the next few months are going to bring. In reality, Massoud's
alliance may still prove to be a shaky one, but in the chaos that has reigned
across north Afghanistan, it's the first step towards creating a unified
government. And more importantly, a single military strategy. |
|
Engineer
Mehrdad has planted his crops to feed the refugees but is unsure if he'll see
them come to harvest. He survived years of warlords, factions, and fanatics.
But if Massoud fails, he could no longer live in
Afghanistan. |
Mehrdad: |
Is
difficult to survive in between the Taliban. Two ways yet are maybe I go out
of the country, maybe I die. This is my ... own idea. |
Speaker
1: |
The
Taliban have proven themselves to be an overwhelming force, but as it has in
the past, this tiny valley may still hold the key to the future of
Afghanistan. |
Speaker
16: |
[foreign
language] |
Speaker
17: |
[foreign
language] |