CHILDREN OF THE TALIBAN

ARCHIVE

Fighting GVs

COMM

As the British and US-led forces prepare to pull out of Afghanistan, they leave behind a country at the mercy of a resurgent Taliban

ARCHIVE

Kid at orphanage

Kid sync:

The Taliban are good

The Taliban are building our country

The Americans have come to destroy it

ARCHIVE

British soldier

GV boy

COMM

And the next generation aren't simply innocent witnesses to the on-going fighting - some of them have also become participants.

Hanan

Hanansync:

You're allowed to kill infidels

as you would kill a dog

Mugshots of Helmand prison boys

COMM

Tonight Dispatches gains unique access to meet the Taliban's child fighters

Hamdullah archive

Hamdullah:

They said, if you tell the soldiers, then we will kill your mother and father

ARCHIVE

Facebook video

Are you ready for martyrdom?

- It's easy, just press the button

ARCHIVE

Neaz

Neaz sync:

The Taliban told me to do a suicide attack on foreigners

They said we will put a vest on you

Hanifbehind bars

COMM

Some are willing to lay down their lives, others are forced - but they are all Afghanistan's Taliban generation

DISPATCHES: TALIBAN KIDS

NEAZ SANDPIT

GVs helicopters landing

TEXT:

HELMAND PROVINCE

SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN

[Music]

TEXT:

LASHKAR GAH ORPHANAGE

Neaz drawing Kalashnikovs in sand

Neaz Sync:

Kalashnikov?

It was like this. This red part is here And this is where the bullets go.

This is the trigger

Naj: Is that the handle?

Yes. This is the handle

This is the part that kills people

Naj: Did you see all this with the Taliban?

Yes, and with the soldiers too

GVs Neaz playing football

COMM

10 year-old Neaz knows a lot about weapons

Two years ago, he was kidnapped by the Taliban and primed for a special mission.

Neaz

Neaz sync:

It was one of those vests...

...where you put the magazines of bullets in like this

The bullets were like this

and the grenades like this

GVs kids playing football

Neaz sync:

They told me to blow myself up at a checkpoint.

Neaz sitting in sand

Neaz sync:

They said that if you blow yourself up we will give you 50 Afghanis [60 pence]

Once you have done it, then come back to us

we will give you money

then you can buy things with it.

Neaz sitting in the sand

Neaz Sync:

I said, what would I do with the money? [Deleted: if I die]

When I'm in the grave will you

[Deleted: come and] give me the money then?

GVs playing football

COMM

Neaz managed to escaped from the Taliban camp during the night, and walked until he came to a police outpost where he turned himself in.

ARCHIVE

News footage

COMM

The authorities seized the propaganda opportunity and paraded Neaz on Afghan TV.

ARCHIVE

Neaz

CROP STATION BANNER

Neaz sync:

The Taliban told me to do a

suicide attack on foreigners

They said we will put a vest on you

I said, no

ARCHIVE

Police officer beside Neaz

Policeman sync:

They encouraged him to commit suicide

saying he would go to heaven

If it's such a good job,

why don't they use their own children

and make them commit suicide?

Orphanage kids

COMM

Vulnerable kids are easy prey for the Taliban - over two thirds of the children in this orphanage have lost their parents to the war.

GVs kids &Neaz playing football

COMM

Neaz's family died when they were bombed by coalition forces in an attempt to kill insurgents hiding in their village.

GVs football

Neaz sync:

The Taliban were in our house and

a helicopter came and bombed us

Neaz

Neaz Sync:

My father was hit here

Shrapnel was everywhere

He was hit in his heart and head.

He was torn apart

Boys playing in sand

Naj sync:

Where was your mother hit?

Neaz

Neaz sync:

- Here

N: Did you see her?

- Yes

GVs boys in sandpit

COMM

Everyone in Neaz's family were killed, including his brother and sister.

Neaz

Neaz sync:

I don't remember [Deleted: any of] them now

I have no one

Naj: No one?

- No

Kids at orphanage

COMM

All of the 140 children here were born after the American invasion in 2001. They have known nothing but war.

Kids with aeroplane

Neaz sync:

The white skinned Americans...

...have come to steal from our country

Neaz and kids

COMM

The NATO-supported Afghan government are fighting for the hearts and minds of this growing generation.

Neaz and kids

Neaz playing sync:

The Americans just shoot

they make the national army

fight the Taliban.

NEAZ COMIC BOOK

Wide shot kids in group reading comic

CU comic

This is the machine gun

the Taliban use.

- That's the bomb

- That's the Taliban

- Look at this.

- Let go

Boys reading comic

COMM

Pro-Government comics are distributed to kids in orphanages and schools around the country.

Boys reading comic

Sync:

I swear to you

I will not let the Afghans live in peace

Lets make the Afghans addicted to drugs

Boys reading comic

COMM

Neaz and his friends know that life is more complicated than the comic suggests

Group of boys with comic

Sync Neaz& boy:

Boy: The Taliban are good

Neaz: The Taliban are good

- Naj: why?

- Neaz: They are just good

Other boy: Because Americans

have come from another country

If we side with them, the Taliban will turn against us

They'll kill us. With no guns, what can we do?

Boys

Boy sync:

The Taliban are building our country

The Americans have come to destroy it

GVs children playing football on ground outside orphanage

Chinooks

the Taliban-led insurgency remains capable of maintaining an extraordinary level of violence throughout Afghanistan, far worse than prior to the surge. This demonstrates that the jihadist hydra is anything but a spent force and could easily recapture more territory as Coalition forces withdraw from the country.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/09/analysis_the_taliban.php#ixzz2TxxhRPFh

After nearly 12 years of the Afghan Government - with the help of the world's most powerful military forces - only has control of some thirty percent of the country.

COMM

After nearly 12 years - with the help of the world's most powerful military forces - the Taliban have still not been defeated.

One of the Taliban's most effective weapons has been the suicide bomb.

The world's most powerful military forces have fought in this land for nearly 12 years, yet the insurgency remains capable of maintaining a terrifying level of violence.

One of the Taliban's most effective weapons has been the suicide bomb.

FACEBOOK VIDEO SUICIDE VEST

GV Chinooks

ARCHIVE

Boy in suicide vest surrounded by Taliban

Archive sync:

- Are you ready for martyrdom?

- I can't do it

- It's easy, just press the button

ARCHIVE

Boy in suicide vest surrounded by Taliban

COMM

This video was recently posted to the internet showing what's believed to be Taliban members encouraging a reluctant young suicide bomber

ARCHIVE

Boy in suicide vest surrounded by Taliban

Video sync:

- I swear I can't do it

- When you reach the target, just press this button

- It's only pressing this button

- Look, you'll go straight to heaven.

75 angels are waiting for you.

ARCHIVE

Freeze on boy

COMM

We have no way of independently verifying this video - and the outcome for the boy is unknown.

GVs Kabul

COMM

Not all child suicide bombers are reluctant recruits.

The Afghan government says 48 kids were arrested last year for planning attacks.

AP ARCHIVE

GVs Helmand

COMM

Helmand province. Despite the loss of more than 400 British soldiers here in the last six years this area remains a Taliban Heartland.

Children accused of fighting for the Taliban are housed in a modern British built prison.

We were given unique access to meet some of them

TEXT:

- HEZBULLAH

- TALIBAN MEMBERSHIP

- ARRESTED AGE 12

CHECK MUSIC

TEXT:

- NAJEEB

- PLANTING MINES

- ARRESTED AGE 12

TEXT:

GULAB

- PLANTING MINES

- ARRESTED AGE 14

TEXT:

EZATULLAH

- PLANTING MINES

- ARRESTED AGE 12

TEXT:

HAMDULLAH

- PLANTING MINES & AMBUSH

- ARRESTED: AGE 12

HAMDULLAH INSIDE ROOM

GVs corridors inside prison

Hamdullah in room

Hamdullah sync:

This is my bed.

When arrived, they allocated it to me

These are the sugar pots

we've all made

I can make two in a week

COMM

Hamdullah was convicted of planting a mine and intending to kill any survivors of the explosion with a pistol.

ARCHIVE NEWS FOOTAGE

Hamdullah making beads

COMM

Caught a year ago, he too was put in front of the cameras.

ARCHIVE

TV footage of confession on laptop on bed

Hamdullah sync:

The van came from the side.

The remote for the mine was in his hand

It was a black and had an antenna on it

Hamdullah fiddling with beads watching TV footage of confession

Hamdullah sync:

He gave it to me saying, ‘you will detonate it'

I was told to then go and see if there were...

...civilians, soldiers or Americans.

And they said, ‘if there are any soldiers or Americans...

... just pull the trigger of the pistol and kill them'

COMM

But twelve months on he's changed his story

Hamdullah making beads

Hamdullah Sync:

I know nothing about this. I didn't say these things

They have changed the sound and inserted my image over it

These statements are nonsense

Hamdullah making beads

COMM

Hamdullah is no longer the little boy confessing on television

Hamdullahmaking beads

Hamdullah sync:

- Naj: Didn't you say any of this?

- No, I didn't

Hamdullah making beads

ARCHIVE: Full screen archive footage

Archive Hamdullah sync:

They said, ‘let's make more bombs'

...and if you tell the soldiers, I will kill your mother and father

we won't spare you either

Hamdullah

COMM

His time in prison has given him the air of a seasoned combatant.

Hezbollah Singing:

The soldier said to the Talib, which way are you going?

You are fighting against the Qu'ran and are an enemy of God

SINGING SONGS INSIDE

GVs boys lining up to be searched

Hezbollah starts singing

Hezbollah Singing:

You must think about the consequences

The soldier said, I know that we

are the slaves of infidels

(laughter)

The infidels are our leaders

and we are their followers

On the outside we are Muslims,

In our hearts we are hypocrites

Our water comes in bottles

and we are driving tanks

(Laughs)

We want our rewards in this world...

GROUP DISCUSSION IN ROOM /IED DRAWING / SCHOOLS

GVs meal time in room

COMM

Most Afghanis don't know their exact birthday. Age is judged, in part, by appearance

The Taliban's official Code of Conduct allows any male who has grown facial hair to become a fighter

This vague age guide is open to interpretation and allows them to claim there are no children in their ranks

Gulab

Gulab sync:

Lots of us joined the Taliban as kids

I joined when I was 12

Gulab

COMM

16 year oldGulab - convicted for laying IEDs - is 20 months into his 7 year sentence.

He chose to join the Taliban and fought for them for 2 years, before being captured

Gulab

Gulab sync:

When we were fighting

I would just target Americans.

If I get the chance, I swear

I'll fight the Americans again

The foreigners have caused all the problems in our country

We must get the Americans

out of our Afghanistan.

but I am not going to hurt any Afghans

COMM

Despite Gulab's intentions, nearly half of all Afghan civilian deaths over the last 6 years have been caused by IEDs - Like the one he's been convicted of rigging

Gulab gets off bed

Najeeb: Have you seen a mine?

Naj: No

Hezbollah: Draw the 20kgs one

Naj:Come down, come here

Drawing IED

Gulab sync:

White, red, green. There are three white ones and one red

Two on this side and these two on that side

Now these two are connected

These are joined together

Naj - Is this battery?

- This is the explosive

This is the trigger of the mine

It touches the detonator when you step on it

Naj: It will explode?

Gulab: Yes

COMM

These drawing may be childlike but wiring a mine is just one of the skills shared by children of the Taliban

END OF PART ONE

PART TWO

GHAZNI PRISON

GVs Driving shots through snowy mountains to Ghazni

TEXT:

GHAZNI PROVINCE

EASTERN AFGHANISTAN

COMM

224 children accused of fighting for the Taliban are being held in detention centres around Afghanistan.

Ghazni - south of Kabul - has been one of the most violent areas in recent times. Here, captured children are held in a secure government compound in Ghazni city- one of the few parts of the province under government control.

Attorney visiting boys in room

Attorney Sync:

Those who recruited you or got you to do their work

won't send their own children

Attorney visiting boys in room

Attorney Sync:

if Jihad is a "holy duty for every Muslim...

...then why don't their sons participate in it?

Has Mullah Omar's sons

fought beside you so far?

No, they haven't

Attorney visiting boys in room

COMM

Abdul Rashid Abed, is a criminal investigator for the government and was involved in convicting all the boys here.

Attorney

Kids playing Karambool

Attorney sync:

I can give you one

example in which three children were involved...

one of whom is Mohammed Hanif

The Taliban had given him a mine and assigned him with a task

While he was planting the mine, he was arrested by security forces

Hanif

C/As playing karambool

Shots Hanif through bars

Out?

Hanif sync:

They said, ‘you are Taliban'

We said, ‘what proof do you have?'

They held us for a couple of nights...

...then the National Army brought us here [delete: to Ghazni]

When the court sentenced me for

3 and a half years, it really hurt.

Naj: Do you miss your home?

I missed home a lot. Now I don't think about it much

I missed it a lot those first nights

I have two younger brothers

I missed my little brothers and my mother

Driving shots

COMM

To find out more about how Hanif ended up in prison, we went to visit his family

He comes from an isolated rural village around 40 miles from Ghazni city.

TRANSITION TO VILLAGE

Driving shots

Driving with Taliban minder

COMM:

Being close to a main road that's used by military convoys, Hanif's village has been strategically important for Taliban as a place to launch attacks.

We had to obtain permission from a Taliban Commander to visit - a minder accompanied our team.

Driving

Taliban sync:

If they suddenly appear,

you won't have anything to worry about

There won't be any problems for you.

Driving

Naj:

Will you help us?

Driving

Taliban sync:

God willing, God willing.

HANIF'S VILLAGE

GVs generic Ghazni village

COMM

While the government controls the major cities, three quarters of the population live in small agricultural villages like this.

Nearly 4 million children in Afghanistan have no access to education, but being near the district school, the children here are some of the lucky ones.

Hanif's parents looking at his photo

Hanif's Mother sync:

He was a good boy doing his school work

and nothing bad

He worked hard at his studies

They just arrested him.

Hanif's photo

COMM

In a society where women are under pressure to stay in the home, Hanif's mother has visited her 13 year old son only once in the six months he's been in detention.

Hanif's mother

Hanif's mother sync:

Of course I miss him

COMM

Hassan, Hanif's father shows us where he was arrested.

Hanif's father outside at field where Hanif was arrested

Hassan sync:

This is grass seed

He was irrigating this field

with his little shovel

The Americans and soldiers

came and arrested him

The Taliban tell us...

... not to leave our homes after 7pm

The land is the Taliban's by night, government's by day.

Ordinary people are caught

in the middle.

COMM

Hassan claims his son has been falsely accused.

Hanif's father interview

Hassan sync:

We have seen the government

take people many times

They make you wear their gear

and stand with their guns

then say you are a Talib.

GVs village football

COMM

Hassan claims the justice system is corrupt. He says he paid a middleman to reduce Hanif's sentence

Hassan

GVs village football

Hassan Sync:

His sentence was 5 years...

...when we paid

they reduced it to a year and a half

GVs kids

N: Who is Mohammad Hanif's brother?

- He is

N: Do you miss Hanif

Yes. We miss him.

Villagers

Elder sync:

The government and Americans come...

...and arrest our children, our youth and our elderly

They have taken people of my age

Why are they so cruel? We are ordinary villagers

We have no power to stand against anyone.

Villagers

Second Elder sync:

We don't have any links with the Taliban or the government

We are burnt by both sides

Villagers

(Isolate in dub)

Elder sync:

Say death to America

Child: Long life...(laughs)

Say it, death to America.

Death to America

Americans should die

All Muslims may live

GHAZNI PRISON

GVs Ghazni prison

Hanif watching TV

COMM

For the next year and a half Hanif will spend twenty three hours a day locked in this room with 19 other boys.

Fighting scene

BLUR boy in black with red undershirt & another boy

Boys sync:

- No-one can hit me

- Why was I hit then?

- Hold him

- Let him hit you three times

- Don't hit him

- One...

Fighting actuality

BLUR boy in black with red undershirt

Hanif

Naj: What happened to you?

I was trying to separate them and they hit me.

I was trying to separate them and they hit me.

Naj: Where?

I got hit on my nose

Guard

Guard sync:

- what is going on boys?

boy: we were just playing cards

HANIF'S INTERVIEW

Hanif having hair cut

COMM

Just about everything is done within the confines of this room.

Hanif having hair cut

Boys sync:

Boy with scissors: Hold your head like this

Hanif: Don't cut it too short

Hanif having hair cut

Jami Jami

Jami Jami sync:

Hanif isn't exactly a criminal.

He is an innocent child,

who has been used

He's also been naive

Jami with boys

[You have sister, you have brother, you have father]

COMM

Abdul Jami Jami is leader of the Ghazni provincial council. He has responsibility to scrutinise the boy's cases.

GVs boys

[Music]

Jami

Jami Sync:

In the last ten years, the spiritual leaders,

scholars and the Taliban of Afghanistan

One way or another have managed to influence the youth

with their interpretation of

the Islamic teachings

They have translated certain verses of the Qu'ran

in a perverse way

GVs boys in class

COMM

The government have instigated a programme to re-educate the boys.

Teacher

Teacher sync:

We all are Afghan citizens

We are brothers

We must not shed blood or kill

Classroom

Boys sync:

Educating people brings blessing

Teacher: Excellent. Jan Mohammad, stand up

Boy 2: In the name of God, the merciful

Help your neighbours

And God will be happy.

Teacher

Teacher sync:

It is this young generation

who can build our country

And we as the followers of Islam

we must try our best to keep our unity and solidarity

HANAN

GVs into room

COMM

Like most of the boys we met, 15 year oldHanan remains unmoved by the government's attempts at re-education.

Hanan reading

Naj: what are you reading, Hanan?

Hanan: I am just reading a book

Naj: What book is it?

Hanan: This is Afghanistan's constitution

And it is all lies

Hanan

COMM:

Hanan is one of the eldest here, his father fought for the Taliban, his grandfather for the Mujahedeen.

Hanan inside against wall

Hanan sync:

It is written in the Holy Qu'ran that you're allowed to kill infidels,

as you would kill a dog

Naj: How do you know the Qu'ran? Who interpreted it for you?

Qu'ran and religious studies are taught in mosques

In those lessons they told us that

there are verses in the Qu'ran saying this

Hanan

Hanan sync:

When I was a child, my father was doing Jihad.

When he was using a rocket propelled grenade, I would ask him how it worked

This is how he taught me

Eating

COMM

When he was just 10, Hanan became head of his family after his father was killed by an American airstrike.

Hanan

Hanan sync:

I am not looking for revenge

for my Father

I chose to join

and I want to do Jihad for the sake of God

If it's in your heart

then you'll fight the infidels

COMM

After a year he broke from his Commander to set up his own small military cell, chosen from his class-mates at the madrasa

Hanan interview & at window

Hanan sync:

We would fight at night

We would hide at our ambush spots along the road

until around midnight

When the tanks would pass,

the first three people would fire

The tanks would come back at us and the other three would fire on them

GV exterior &Hanan

MUSIC - make menacing

Hanan sync:

The Americans aren't here to build Afghanistan

They are here to destroy Afghanistan

How many people have they martyred?

How many innocent people have they killed?

They should leave Afghanistan so we can build our country.

GVs sun & boys in yard

COMM

The future of Afghanistan will be in part determined by the choices young people like Hanan make.

He's a solider and a prisoner, but also a husband and a father. Since he's been in detention his 14 year old wife has given birth to their daughter.

Hanan

Naj: Do you miss your wife?

- Yes. obviously

Hanan outside

Naj: Do you want to do Jihad? Or stay with your wife and child?

Family comes first

Being man of the house, you are supposed to look after the family.

I will look after my home...

But, it's much better if you can do Jihad as well

FUTURE

Neaz& kids playing

Kids sync:

Lets play soldiers today

GVs kids playing war in orphanage

COMM

Half of Afghanistan is aged under 18 - whether participants or victims, too many have had their childhoods dominated by this war.

Beds outside

COMM

A daily scene back in the orphanage in LashkarGah shows just how traumatised these children are.

Bed wetting is routine. Neaz carries his own mattress out each morning to dry in the sun.

Neaz at beds

Sync Neaz:

Naj: Which one is yours?

That one is mine

Naj: Which one?

That one

Neaz washing face

COMM

Neaz now struggles to recall life with his family

Neaz

Neaz sync:

I don't remember any of them now

I used to remember them...

...now I remember them only in my dreams

They talk with me. They say, let's go

Naj: do you see them in your dreams every night?

No, one, one time.

Neaz praying

Neaz Sync

I pray for my mother and father's forgiveness

and for my uncles

may peace come to our country

and may God make the infidels disappear

END CREDITS