REPORTER: Yalda Hakim
PART ONE:
I've come to Kabul to meet a man seeking peace, but he is killed by a suicide bomber just hours before I reach him. Former Afghan President Bahruniddin Rabbani had been negotiating an end to fighting with the Taliban. His assassination is a major blow to any hope of an end to the violence here.
MAN (Translation): They are using Islam as tool to achieve their goals. They are portraying Islam as a barbaric belief to the world.
MPs and former warlords come to pay their last respects to Rabbani, but no-one feels safe in the open here - crowds like this are prime targets for another bombing. A provincial governor arrives and there's a confrontation over whether his convoy will be allowed in the driveway. All the guards are armed, and elders fear there could be a shoot out. It wouldn't be the first time.
At Rabbani's funeral, a 21 gun salute triggers panic - just a sign of how edgy Kabul is these days. Security is quite tight, as you can see, they've really ramped it up. This mainly is the president's security guards, but you must wonder, where was all this security when Rabbani was killed by suicide bombers two days ago?
CROWD (Translation): Long live the jihad of resistance! death to Pakistan! death to ISI! death to their slaves.
I'm struck by the anger amongst ordinary people here towards neighboring Pakistan, blamed by so many for harboring Rabbani's killers.
SOLDIER (Translation): It’s not the Taliban or Mullah Omar or Gulbudin – it is simply Pakistan’s ISI. For generations, they haven’t allowed us to be a brave, united and independent Afghanistan. We’ll take our revenge on Pakistan.
Rabbani was a key figure in the Northern Alliance, a coalition of fighters opposed to the Taliban. His burial today takes place under the gaze of the Alliance's former leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud. Massoud was also assassinated - an Al Qaeda suicide bomber killed him just two days before the 9/11 attacks.
I was born here, but left when I was too young to comprehend a country descending into chaos. Now, I want to understand how this land has become so violent. I visit one of Afghanistan's most notorious prisons - Puleh-Charkhi - to speak to a Taliban killer. It's rare for the media to gain access and we're told not to film as we enter.
Inside, I meet Pakistani national and member of the Taliban, Qari Ramazan. Three years ago, he walked into one of Kabul's biggest hotels, the Serena, where the Australian embassy used to be and shot dead eight civilians there, Ramazan would have killed even more if the suicide vest he was wearing hadn't failed to detonate.
REPORTER: So what went through your mind when you thought you were going to die?
QARI RAMAZAN, FAILED SUICIDE BOMBER (Translation): They say ‘A human is harder than a rock and more fragile than a flower.” I had no feeling, no thought of death or anything. I was doing something to please God. I had no feelings at all and felt no pain
REPORTER: Could you tell me where exactly in the Koran it says to commit suicide?
QARI RAMAZAN (Translation): In this regard, God gives us the good news that if you become a martyr you’ll go to paradise and as I’ve already said “…of force and steeds.”
It means “What can you afford to fight with?” If you can afford a gun, that’s fine, but someone else will have a tank. I can afford to fight with my life - I can put explosives on my body and lose my life.
REPORTER: If you could just give me the verse that says kill yourself?
QARI RAMAZAN (Translation): There’s the Koran and there’s the Hadith and there’s one more, or two - I have forgotten the names. One’s the Koran and the other is… I’ve forgotten what’s it called? Every Muslim knows fighting infidels is a duty - even children are aware of that. There are 400 Koranic verses that are clearly about jihad. Every Muslim knows that.
But even this killer longs for the brutal justice of the Taliban.
QARI RAMAZAN (Translation): Under Taliban rule the punishment would fit the crime.
Under this government, a killer walks free if he pays bribes. This is easy for a killer.
The Taliban would never free him - he’d be killed.
REPORTER: Do you think you'll be able to oust America and NATO from Afghanistan?
QARI RAMAZAN (Translation): I hope that with their limited numbers, they can stop the US and NATO. It is possible the Taliban will make peace with the government if the foreigners leave.
REPORTER: They attempted to negotiate and they killed the peace leader.
QARI RAMAZAN (Translation): If one government leader is killed, another replaces him. Afghanistan is full of leaders – many Taliban leaders were killed working for peace.
REPORTER: What right does Pakistan have to fight an Afghan war?
QARI RAMAZAN (Translation): Afghans and Pakistanis are against US and NATO. They have martyred many, like Baitullah Masood and Osama.
And then his extraordinary view on the place of women in society.
QARI RAMAZAN (Translation): Women cause all incitement to evil in Islamic society. Allah says women should be covered - they shouldn’t leave the house unless covered. You know that! Yes, all incitement to evil... This is what the Koran says about women, that they should stay at home unless they are covered.
Back to his cell to a life of indefinite confinement.
These girls know all too well where they stand in the world of the Taliban. In October last year, Taliban fighters tried to murder these students by gassing the school - punishment for the crime of females seeking an education.
FATIMA, STUDENT (Translation): After a few minutes, the smell got worse. Suddenly Principal Zarmina
came in and said “Leave the classrooms immediately.” She said not to worry about bags and books. A few minutes later, some girls started feeling faint – they fainted – fell unconscious. I was one of the ones who fainted!
The girls were afraid, but determined to continue their studies. So they marched back into their classes the next day.
FATIMA (Translation): Yes, we are scared because these are the people who want to see us fail. They are the enemy of our country. They’re our enemy - they don’t want our country to progress, but we must think, if we are intimidated, if others are intimidated, who will rebuild our country? What will our future be?
AJMAL (Translation): Can I take the evil off you sir?
But not everyone is privileged enough to go to school. Ajmal, now ten years old, was born the same year the US invaded to drive out the Taliban. I wanted to find out more about his life as a beggar.
REPORTER (Translation): Ajmal, what do you do, do you go to school?
AJMAL (Translation): I used to go to school but not any more.
REPORTER (Translation): Why did you leave?
AJMAL (Translation): My father told me to work.
REPORTER (Translation): Why do you have to work?
AJMAL (Translation): He told me to work to provide for the family – I have four sisters, one is dead – she died a long time ago – when the Taliban were in power and two are at home and one is married.
He tells me he earns approximately $2 a day.
REPORTER (Translation): Do you like the Taliban?
AJMAL (Translation): No.
REPORTER (Translation): You don’t want them back? Are you happy with conditions in today’sAfghanistan?
AJMAL (Translation): Afghanistan is getting worse.
REPORTER (Translation): Are you scared of suicide bombers when you go out to work?
AJMAL (Translation): Yes, I am scared.
REPORTER (Translation): What do you fear in Afghanistan?
AJMAL (Translation): War.
Fear everywhere in a place where war has maimed so many. This battered shipping container was once Koko Mohammad's livelihood - a shop which sold spare parts for cars.
KOKO MOHAMMAD (Translation): They’ve turned it upside down and broken the steel bars and now all the druggies are taking whatever’s inside.
Now it's been bulldozed by government workers who want to clean up the area. Back at his house, Koko Mohammad struggles up the stairs. He says he was injured when a rocket exploded next to him, killing three neighbors during Afghanistan's civil war.
These are the papers Koko Mohammad says prove he has been the owner of his spare parts business for 40 years.
REPORTER (Translation): What do you think of Karzai’s government?
KOKO MOHAMMAD (Translation): To be honest with you, it’s a corrupt government and when corruption exists in a government, security is lost. That’s all.
Without a shop or any other form of income, Koko Mohammad and his family are barely surviving. To them, life under the Taliban can only be better than what they have now.
KOKO MOHAMMAD (Translation): It didn’t happen during the Taliban - the Taliban didn’t do that, they helped people - I swear many nights there was a knock on my door, I’d open it, they’d hand me a bag of meat, then walk away. They helped us by giving us wheat as well. There were bad people doing bad things but if they were caught, they were hanged.
Koko Mohammad echoes the words of the suicide bomber, Qari Ramazon, who told me that under the Taliban regime, criminals would pay the ultimate price.
KOKO MOHAMMAD (Translation): We don’t support those who commit treason - we want a government that will hang those who commit treason. Those who commit treason should be hanged as a lesson. If people are arrested and freed the next evening it will get worse.
It's a sentiment I heard more than once, a hard line longing for law and order, but now, any solution to the country's woes may be beyond reach.
Talking to the Taliban seemed like a way out of Afghanistan's mess, but if that policy is now dead in the water, you have to wonder where the country's embattled leaders can turn next.
PART TWO:
I came back to the country, this time looking to find some hope for the future. But so far, all I've seen here is more division and chaos. In the city of Mazar-i-Shariff - 350 kilometres north of Kabul,the 15th century Blue Mosque is a magnificent reminder of ancient Afghanistan. After the mayhem of Kabul, Mazar is a peaceful, well run city, an example of what Afghanistan could be.
But 20 kilometres outside the city is this fort, called Qala-i-Jangi, which has an infamous place in the nation's recent history. In their fight against the Taliban, the Northern Alliance used this 15th century fortress as a jail. But in November of 2001, the overcrowded inmates rioted.
It was here that Taliban prisoners took control of the fort and the Northern Alliance and their USallies quickly moved to take it back. But things didn't go according to plan. After a week of heavy fighting to quell the uprising, the US dropped one of their heavy bombs on the fort - the J DAM - but when it fell a fraction off target, it's indiscriminate destruction left a grim toll on both sides.
Governor Mohammad Ata Nur played a key role in ousting the Taliban. He's now Governor of the province and one of the most powerful men in the country. The assassinated former President Rabbani was a Northern Alliance friend and mentor.
GOVERNOR MOHAMMAD ATA NUR (Translation): By killing a leader they have crossed the line, they have crossed a red line.
REPORTER (Translation): So you are saying there is no way you will start a peace process with the Taliban?
GOVERNOR MOHAMMAD ATA NUR (Translation): Those who considered peace important and value it, those who can uphold and respect peace, whether they are the Taliban or whoever, we will protect them, but those who don’t love peace – who are not familiar with the word and don’t think peace is good or that society needs it – what does peace with them mean? We talk peace - they behead us. We talk peace – they kill our children.
It's the responsibility of General Estimullah Alizai to secure the city, and the province, against the Taliban. We go on patrol with his heavily armed forces. They stop and search, looking for everything from arms caches to traffic offenders. The city seems safe, but we've heard the Taliban have control of towns not far from here.
GENERAL ESTIMULLAH ALIZAI (Translation): The country has been at war for more than 30 years, and what the war has left us is arms in every house and village. The use of arms which haven’t been handed in to DIAC or DDR sometimes leads to looting, stealing and hold-ups and can facilitate the return of the Taliban.
However, General Estimullah Alizai denies the enemy is creeping up.
GENERAL ESTIMULLAH ALIZAI (Translation): The centre for Taliban education, where the arms and supplies all come from, is across the boarder. It is hard for their supplies to reach here because it is so far.
But the Governor, General Mohammad Ata Nur's, concerns range wider than his own province. He wants Hamid Karzai to stop dealing with the Taliban.
GOVERNOR MOHAMMAD ATA NUR (Translation): I’m in contact with the head of the government, I have requested the president and the vice-presidents, that key changes in security policy, information and intelligence be implemented – I have emphasized that we should not give our enemies the chance to keep killing us.
REPORTER (Translation): If the Kabul government is silent, what can you do?
GOVERNOR MOHAMMAD ATA NUR (Translation): If the government says that they wont change their policies and can’t maintain security and that they are responsible for our own security because the government is incapable, then we will go to the people and the Mujahadeen.
The Governor's threat to re-arm and re-group his former fighters presents a dilemma for Karzai's government.
REPORTER (Translation): If you do that, don’t you think there will be civil war in Afghanistan?
GOVERNOR MOHAMMAD ATA NUR (Translation): We will confer with the Afghan people and come to an agreement – delay is a sin. It means our heads are on the chopping block and we are waiting for the sword.
WAKIL AHMED MUTTA WAKIL, FORMER TALIBAN FOREIGN MINISTER (Translation): Major-General Atta and others, Dr Abdullah and others, they insist on one point – that we have to fight forever, but Afghans do not support this idea. They are tired after 30 years of war.
The Karzai government is in contact with Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, the Taliban's former foreign minister. He's a valuable go-between, but in a city under siege by his former masters, his life here is in danger and he's offered protection by the Karzai government.
REPORTER: Who are they - I mean is there a good Taliban and bad Taliban, who is today’s Taliban?
WAKIL AHMED MUTTA WAKIL (Translation): The Taliban are still under Mullah Omar’s leadership, it is the same leadership. Naturally the new generation has joined them – it is the same name with the same structure and without a doubt, they have kept their unity, one spokesman, one flag and one leader.
REPORTER: So if someone were to steal, their hand would be chopped?
WAKIL AHMED MUTTA WAKIL (Translation): We need three courts of law to deliver justice, so all provisions of sharia law have to be implemented.
REPORTER (Translation): Should they talk to those who plant bombs?
WAKIL AHMED MUTTA WAKIL (Translation): The government and foreign forces kill civilians in bombing raids – suicide bombing is a response to that. It’s war. There is still no mutual agenda and no agreement in place and face-to-face negotiations have not started.
REPORTER (Translation): Do you think we will have peace now Mr Rabbani is gone?
HUMA SULTANI, MEMBER OF AFGHAN PARLIAMENT (Translation): I am sure we will.
REPORTER (Translation): You’re sure?
As I prepare to leave Afghanistan, I find one last extraordinary piece in this complex political puzzle. Homa Sultani, is a Member of the Afghan Parliament, she has made the startling claim that none other than the leader of the Taliban, Mullah Omar, has recently stayed at her house in Kabul.
HUMA SULTANI (Translation): Now he has come back to the fold, he has signed a document agreeing to peace negotiations. The government should look at this document and somehow confirm that the signature is genuine. As far as I know, it is genuine because he signed in front of me.
She calls for the document she claims was given to her by Mullah Omar and written to President Karzai.
HUMA SULTANI (Translation): The letters belong to Mullah Omar and Hamid Karzai. Bring copies urgently. When he says “Your Excellency” he recognizes the president, the government and the constitution.
I'm left wondering if the letter could ever be legitimate, or if she has any credibility. If nothing else, her claims reflect how surreal Kabul has become. The killing of Burhanuddin Rabbani marks a turning point for this battered nation. Talking peace with terrorists has taken the country even closer to the edge.
REPORTER (Translation): What is your message to the US and the rest of the world?
GOVERNOR MOHAMMAD ATA NUR (Translation): They have to recognize the enemies of Afghanistan and their own enemies. They have to know who is responsible for causing anarchy. The poor people of Afghanistan are the first to be sacrificed by terrorism, so strategic help is needed from them.
After what's happened here in the past decade, it's really hard to imagine how things will change for the better. Our website has an interactive guide to the conflict, plus there's my behind the scenes look at putting together tonight's program on location. Go to sbs.com.au/dateline.
Reporter
YALDA HAKIM
Camera
RYAN SHERIDAN
Producers
GEOFF PARISH
ASHLEY SMITH
Fixers
ABDUL BASIR
RAHMATULLAH MUAHID
Editors
ROWAN TUCKER-EVANS
MICAH MCGOWN
NICK O'BRIEN
WAYNE LOVE
DAVID POTTS
Subtitling/Translations
NASIBA AKRAM
MINA ZAKI
Original music composed by Vicki Hansen
PART TWO:
I came back to the country, this time looking to find some hope for the future. But so far, all I've seen here is more division and chaos. In the city of Mazar-i-Shariff - 350 kilometres north of Kabul,the 15th century Blue Mosque is a magnificent reminder of ancient Afghanistan. After the mayhem of Kabul, Mazar is a peaceful, well run city, an example of what Afghanistan could be.
But 20 kilometres outside the city is this fort, called Qala-i-Jangi, which has an infamous place in the nation's recent history. In their fight against the Taliban, the Northern Alliance used this 15th century fortress as a jail. But in November of 2001, the overcrowded inmates rioted.
It was here that Taliban prisoners took control of the fort and the Northern Alliance and their USallies quickly moved to take it back. But things didn't go according to plan. After a week of heavy fighting to quell the uprising, the US dropped one of their heavy bombs on the fort - the J DAM - but when it fell a fraction off target, it's indiscriminate destruction left a grim toll on both sides.
Governor Mohammad Ata Nur played a key role in ousting the Taliban. He's now Governor of the province and one of the most powerful men in the country. The assassinated former President Rabbani was a Northern Alliance friend and mentor.
GOVERNOR MOHAMMAD ATA NUR (Translation): By killing a leader they have crossed the line, they have crossed a red line.
REPORTER (Translation): So you are saying there is no way you will start a peace process with the Taliban?
GOVERNOR MOHAMMAD ATA NUR (Translation): Those who considered peace important and value it, those who can uphold and respect peace, whether they are the Taliban or whoever, we will protect them, but those who don’t love peace – who are not familiar with the word and don’t think peace is good or that society needs it – what does peace with them mean? We talk peace - they behead us. We talk peace – they kill our children.
It's the responsibility of General Estimullah Alizai to secure the city, and the province, against the Taliban. We go on patrol with his heavily armed forces. They stop and search, looking for everything from arms caches to traffic offenders. The city seems safe, but we've heard the Taliban have control of towns not far from here.
GENERAL ESTIMULLAH ALIZAI (Translation): The country has been at war for more than 30 years, and what the war has left us is arms in every house and village. The use of arms which haven’t been handed in to DIAC or DDR sometimes leads to looting, stealing and hold-ups and can facilitate the return of the Taliban.
However, General Estimullah Alizai denies the enemy is creeping up.
GENERAL ESTIMULLAH ALIZAI (Translation): The centre for Taliban education, where the arms and supplies all come from, is across the boarder. It is hard for their supplies to reach here because it is so far.
But the Governor, General Mohammad Ata Nur's, concerns range wider than his own province. He wants Hamid Karzai to stop dealing with the Taliban.
GOVERNOR MOHAMMAD ATA NUR (Translation): I’m in contact with the head of the government, I have requested the president and the vice-presidents, that key changes in security policy, information and intelligence be implemented – I have emphasized that we should not give our enemies the chance to keep killing us.
REPORTER (Translation): If the Kabul government is silent, what can you do?
GOVERNOR MOHAMMAD ATA NUR (Translation): If the government says that they wont change their policies and can’t maintain security and that they are responsible for our own security because the government is incapable, then we will go to the people and the Mujahadeen.
The Governor's threat to re-arm and re-group his former fighters presents a dilemma for Karzai's government.
REPORTER (Translation): If you do that, don’t you think there will be civil war in Afghanistan?
GOVERNOR MOHAMMAD ATA NUR (Translation): We will confer with the Afghan people and come to an agreement – delay is a sin. It means our heads are on the chopping block and we are waiting for the sword.
WAKIL AHMED MUTTA WAKIL, FORMER TALIBAN FOREIGN MINISTER (Translation): Major-General Atta and others, Dr Abdullah and others, they insist on one point – that we have to fight forever, but Afghans do not support this idea. They are tired after 30 years of war.
The Karzai government is in contact with Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, the Taliban's former foreign minister. He's a valuable go-between, but in a city under siege by his former masters, his life here is in danger and he's offered protection by the Karzai government.
REPORTER: Who are they - I mean is there a good Taliban and bad Taliban, who is today’s Taliban?
WAKIL AHMED MUTTA WAKIL (Translation): The Taliban are still under Mullah Omar’s leadership, it is the same leadership. Naturally the new generation has joined them – it is the same name with the same structure and without a doubt, they have kept their unity, one spokesman, one flag and one leader.
REPORTER: So if someone were to steal, their hand would be chopped?
WAKIL AHMED MUTTA WAKIL (Translation): We need three courts of law to deliver justice, so all provisions of sharia law have to be implemented.
REPORTER (Translation): Should they talk to those who plant bombs?
WAKIL AHMED MUTTA WAKIL (Translation): The government and foreign forces kill civilians in bombing raids – suicide bombing is a response to that. It’s war. There is still no mutual agenda and no agreement in place and face-to-face negotiations have not started.
REPORTER (Translation): Do you think we will have peace now Mr Rabbani is gone?
HUMA SULTANI, MEMBER OF AFGHAN PARLIAMENT (Translation): I am sure we will.
REPORTER (Translation): You’re sure?
As I prepare to leave Afghanistan, I find one last extraordinary piece in this complex political puzzle. Homa Sultani, is a Member of the Afghan Parliament, she has made the startling claim that none other than the leader of the Taliban, Mullah Omar, has recently stayed at her house in Kabul.
HUMA SULTANI (Translation): Now he has come back to the fold, he has signed a document agreeing to peace negotiations. The government should look at this document and somehow confirm that the signature is genuine. As far as I know, it is genuine because he signed in front of me.
She calls for the document she claims was given to her by Mullah Omar and written to President Karzai.
HUMA SULTANI (Translation): The letters belong to Mullah Omar and Hamid Karzai. Bring copies urgently. When he says “Your Excellency” he recognizes the president, the government and the constitution.
I'm left wondering if the letter could ever be legitimate, or if she has any credibility. If nothing else, her claims reflect how surreal Kabul has become. The killing of Burhanuddin Rabbani marks a turning point for this battered nation. Talking peace with terrorists has taken the country even closer to the edge.
REPORTER (Translation): What is your message to the US and the rest of the world?
GOVERNOR MOHAMMAD ATA NUR (Translation): They have to recognize the enemies of Afghanistan and their own enemies. They have to know who is responsible for causing anarchy. The poor people of Afghanistan are the first to be sacrificed by terrorism, so strategic help is needed from them.
After what's happened here in the past decade, it's really hard to imagine how things will change for the better. Our website has an interactive guide to the conflict, plus there's my behind the scenes look at putting together tonight's program on location. Go to sbs.com.au/dateline.
Reporter
YALDA HAKIM
Camera
RYAN SHERIDAN
Producers
GEOFF PARISH
ASHLEY SMITH
Fixers
ABDUL BASIR
RAHMATULLAH MUAHID
Editors
ROWAN TUCKER-EVANS
MICAH MCGOWN
NICK O'BRIEN
WAYNE LOVE
DAVID POTTS
Subtitling/Translations
NASIBA AKRAM
MINA ZAKI
Original music composed by Vicki Hansen