(0:01) Narrative: 9/11 was one of those rare events that most people can remember exactly where they were when they first saw it, so perhaps we take it for granted that everybody knows what it is or would at least recognize it . . . but is that really the case, especially in some of the places that have been most effected by it’s consequences?
Travel to Afghanistan Scene –military helicopter flights and a Marine’s COP
(0:24) Narrative: Helmand in southern Afghanistan is the province that has borne the brunt of the fighting between Taliban and coalition forces. What would Afghans in this war torn province think about 9/11 and its consequences. But first, what would the marines think of the seemingly obvious question I wanted to put to the Afghans?
Asking the Marines about 9/11 scene
(0:43) Journalist: I just want to ask you guys: have you heard of 9/11?
(00:48) Marines: Indeed yes
(0:51) Journalist: And what does it mean to you?
(0:54) Narrative: After a lengthy silence, which perhaps said more than words could, the lieutenant in charge voiced some thoughts
(1:00) 1stLt Andrew Yager: The whole approach that we had coming into adulthood, it’s kind of hard to separate that, as I said, because we grew up with it and grew up with the shadow of it
Sar Banadar Village Scene & 1st IED
(1:20) Marine: Lets Roll
(1:25) 1stLt Andrew Yager: Of course just in the course of our patrolling and what not, a lot of the local characters we know pretty well. We passed the local village idiot on the way in. He’s a buddy of ours.
(1:38) Narrative: Sar Banadar village is typical of many in Helmand, poverty and negligible, if any, government services, together with three decades of war have prevented virtually any development. With the high rates of illiteracy and lack of infrastructure, the villagers essentially live in what’s close to a media vacuum.
(1:55) As Helmand goes, however, it’s at least relatively peaceful, but there are still very real threats. On the first day the marines set up next to Sar Banadar they found some 12 IEDs in and around the village. Recently a young village boy lost his leg to one and the problem persists on a daily basis.
(2:12) Marine: Are you going to the bomb sir? Yeah, it’s straight down that way.
(2:16)1stLt Andrew Yager: Currently due walking EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) onto the site of the IED (Improvised Explosive Devise)
(2:20) Marine: Fire in the hole!
[controlled detonation of the IED]
(2:23) Marine: Hey, was that your bomb?
(2:28) Narrative: That’s one down but low and behold, it was to be the same story the next day
Second IED Scene
(2:33) Marine: Just a heads up, we found another IED
(2:36) Journalist: Where is it?
(2:38) Marine: It’s right over there, you can actually see them, down off the side of the cliff
(2:46) Narrative: While waiting for the demining team, one of the marines wanted to comment on their silence when asked about 9/11
(2:52) Cpl Dillon Wilson: It’s that, not so much eerie, but understood silence between each other. It’s reminds you of why you’re here and exactly what you’re doing here
But some of us still have a personal vendetta with the beings that roam here,
being the Taliban and still connect that to 9/11 – I do myself. You know, here comes the ten-year anniversary and I still find it very personal
(3:18)Narrative: The lieutenant also had a few words on what the Afghan’s might think of 9/11
(3:22) 1stLt Andrew Yager: I think at this point, in a sense it is ancient history to them and rightfully so because their problems are very much in the here and now,
problems of security, problems of economics etc, which are perhaps a result of September eleventh but far removed at this point - Osama Bin Laden isn’t ruining these people’s lives.
(3:45) Narrative: But our conversation was cut off by an unexpectedly early detonation.
(3:50)Marine: Fire in the whole!”
(4:02) Marine: [laughing] that’s so awesome
Showi ng the pictures to the young men
(4:07) Narrative: The following day I get a first opportunity to ask a couple of young Afghan men what they know and about 9/11?
(4:17) Translator: No, they never heard about this
(4:19) Journalist: Can you show them a few more and can you ask them do they know where it is even?
(4:28) Translator: He says “we’re farmers, we’re just working in our fields
so we do nothing, we don’t know anything else about the world.
We don’t know sir because we’re farmers, we never heard anything else about the world”
(4:42) 1stLt Andrew Yager: If you don’t mind I’ve got a couple more questions for these guys. I just wanted to show them what these pictures . . . As you know we’re here for your security but your security is tied to our security. By keeping this area safe and keeping your families safe, we keep our families safe and that’s the reason that we’re here.
Shura Scene – Showing pictures to the elders at the Shura
(5:08) Narrative: The two young men had clearly never heard of 9/11 but maybe the elders at a local shura would have more to say
(5:21) Tranlsator: “No, they’ve never seen it” He’s saying you just can see the smoke from the buildings and that’s it - that’s the only thing I can say
(5:30) Translator: When you guys showed us that picture, this guys saying “ I thought it was Kabul”
(5:34) Capt Zachary Shore: If I’d just got here I would have been surprised but having been here now for six months I’m not. This is pretty much the stone ages where we are.
(5:42) Journalist: And what did you think about their reactions?
(5:44) Capt Zachary Shore: Oh I thought it was fascinating, the guy who said it was Kabul had clearly never been to Kabul. Just shows you how isolated they are, even in their own country.
(5:54) Translator: He’s saying Afghanistan doesn’t even have a donkey. How can Afghanistan come to this point and get the airplane from here to attack the United States, they don’t have that much power
(6:06) Capt Zachary Shore: It was nice to go from Iraq to here. It was a lot easier to understand why you’re here – you had that picture, you could always pick up that picture to remind yourself why we’re here. I don’t like looking at those pictures, I haven’t looked at those pictures, I’ve intentionally avoided those pictures for ten years now. So to see them pulled out here and to see the Afghans looking at them, in this context while wearing the uniform and carrying the rifle took me back.
(6:33) Translator: He’s saying “the Americans say we’re going to help you, one of their buildings was destroyed and how many of our buildings were destroyed, and they say they are going to help us – where is the help?
(6:42) Translator: He’s saying “They give to our kids a gun to go and fight and they give to their own kids pen and paper to read and write”
(6:51) Capt Zachary Shore: I do sympathize with what they were saying, you know, you’re buildings were knocked down but how many of our buildings were knocked down. Even just from the weather we’ve been having recently some of the people have been losing their homes and nobody is here to help them so when you can’t even feed yourself or house yourself, how are you going to are about somebody 6000 miles away? So I can understand that.
(7:13) But I never thought to ask those questions of anybody here, as to why we’re here.
Policemen Scene – Showing the pictures to the policemen
(7:19) Narrative: Amazingly, in a country where for ten years a war has been fought with 9/11 as its root cause and justification, it turns out not only were the villagers oblivious to 9/11 but so were the Afghan police and even some of the translators working with the US military.
(7:36) Journalist: But you don’t know the history of this event?
(7:38) Translator: No, I have no idea about the history of this.
(7:40) Journalist: Have you ever seen these pictures before?
(7:42) Translator: No, I didn’t
(7:44) Narrative: In fact, after showing the images to dozens of Afghans, I only found one person who clearly recognized them and could connect them to the US’s initial reason for coming to Afghanistan - and that was the Police District Chief in Marjah.
In the office of the Marjah Chief of Police
(8:00) Translator speaking the words of Marjah Police Chief, Ghulam Wali: The Taliban terrorists attacked the building of New York and killed most of the people when they destroyed this building. So that was the reason American forces today came to Afghanistan
(8:16) Narrative: Some of his men, however, wanted to know more
(8:20) Lt Frank Swan: Al Qaeda and the Taliban took these planes and they flew them into these two buildings. The force of that actually made these buildings collapse, killing thousands more”
(8:36) Narrative: And they weren’t convinced, rightly so, that it was an Afghan attack
(8:41) He says “no, they were not from Afghanistan”
(8:43) Lt Frank Swan: Yes, they were, not all of them. There were some, I believe, from Yemen but they trained here in Afghanistan
(8:56) Narrative: So it seems, even the Marines weren’t clear about 9/11’s perpetrators
(9:03) Translator speaking Afghan Policeman’s words: You’re really going to walk with me shauna ba shauna – shoulder by shoulder - or you just told me that
(9:09) Lt Frank Swan: No, I will walk with you shauna ba shauna and I will fight next to you shauna ba shauna
Collage Scene
(9:15) Narrative: A survey taken in 2010 by the International Council on security and Development found that 92% of Afghan men in Helmand and other Afghan Province had no idea what 9/11 was. With American troops set to start withdrawing this year, it seems likely that they will leave Afghanistan without the vast majority of Afghan’s ever having really understood why they came in the first place.