Afghanistan:
Resisting the Taliban
Radio Télévision Suisse | 15 min
Postproduction Script
0'00
It's the start of the evening patrol //....on their pickup truck they leave to carry out their new mission of vigilance in the streets of Kabul....a new mission for these men who had never set foot in the capital before.
For the moment, their work consists mainly in searching cars to try to prevent a new attack....
0'34 (Man 1)
We look for weapons but we also search for thieves or stolen cars... and if someone has alcohol or drugs... we take him to the station
Tophane Ashraf explains to us that he arrived here the day of the capture of Kabul, with the firm intention of helping his country.
0'55 (man 1)
We are not here to impose an ideology, we are here to rebuild the country, the system ....on is trying to behave well with the people...to establish good relations...but it must go both ways, they must also behave well with us
1'15 Title: Talibanistan
Like every morning, the crowd crowds in front of the police station of the district 10 of the capital..... they come to file a complaint and try to obtain justice from the new masters of Kabul.....
In this office, a judge decides the cases in a form of immediate appearance...the judge is this taliban in black with this deroutant accessory....
Why as a judge you have a gun?
1'49
Man 2
Abdul Qadeer Shadadatyar, judge
It's not a big deal to have a gun. Even though we have guards outside who check that no one comes in armed, it's nice in an emergency to have a little something there and here. It's not a concern for people, they're used to guns. You see the number of applicants outside, it shows that we are useful and that people trust us.
VO: The case he has to rule on is the one of this old man who came to complain that his daughter is being beaten by her husband... she has bruises and burns... the husband in question is also present at the hearing
2'24
Man 3
The old man
When I come to him nicely to see my daughter, he insults me and tells me to get lost ...this man yes.....this boy is a nobody
2'36
Man 4
The young man defends himself
Don't say that on television, they come from another country
2'39
Man 2 The judge:
"don't hurt your wife anymore, no more violence...I'm giving you a warning...be nice to your wife...we don't want you to divorce, but organize the house to live in 2 separate rooms..."
So the punching husband escapes any punishment....he leaves with a simple warning .... Apparently, the Taliban are taking care of their rating
Why is there no punishment?
3'01
Man 2
Abdul Qadeer Shadadatyar, judge
"we don't want to lock up everyone....all these people who march here have enough problems...We try to be good to people and avoid sending them to prison...
at the exit we try to speak to the father, attempt quickly aborted by one of the Taliban of faction
3'22
man 5
"I told you not to talk to them...you want to trample on your honor in front of strangers...(.what kind of person are you?".)
In the next building, another Taliban is dealing with complaints, here a man is asking for the seizure of a house and the eviction of its occupants, he signs the order to arrest them
Before going upstairs, we spoke with these 3 women off camera, they claim that a Taliban stole their phone but that their complaint was refused.
3'52
Man 6
Hafez Mubarez, complaints
office
"They never came here...and if it's true that they were robbed, they have to come and show us who took the phone and we will punish him.
For him the exercise of justice is totally new ...... and we understand quite quickly that behind him he has only a career and a training of fighter ....
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Man 6
The world map
4'19
This is what you want me to show you, why?
4'23
I'm going to turn it to the afghanistan side
Where is Afghanistan?
4'31
It's hard to find
4'34
Does anyone know where it is?
4'36
(MAN 7, someone behind) already found Asia
4'43
Man 7
(hand )it's there
4'46 Man 6
Ah yes it's there
4'50
herat, kabul
In front of the building, we see a container which is used as a prison..... we are forbidden to film, we still have time to recognize a man arrested here the previous Thursday ... he has already spent 5 days in his container
Since their arrival in power, the Taliban are facing some women demonstrations.... who claim their right to education....
they react in a rather radical way....like here use of force after 60 seconds against the 4 demonstrators and the journalists....
the taliban have just decreed that it is illegal to cover an illegal demonstration...in other words all the demonstrations that are unfavorable to them
The women are not discouraged. To counter the ban, they decided this morning to demonstrate in secret. This may seem paradoxical, but it is a way to get the message through the press.
Zahra mohamedi is a dentist, she prepares her posters inside a school, that's where the demonstration will take place
Woman 1
6'08 (synthesized at 6'10)
Zahra Mohamedi, dentist
For me the Taliban are the enemies of women. The Taliban have no education...even in 100 years, they would not reach our level of education, they could not become doctor or engineer...for me the Taliban are madmen otherwise they would respect the women who gave them birth.
Manif...synthesized
6'31
The world must support our right to school
6'36
Education and work are the rights of Islam
6'39
the school for girls must remain open
The other thing that the Taliban don't like very much is to see this misery displayed in the center of Kabul, the sign that Afghans are hungry.
That day, the new Taliban refugee officer came to push them to go back home... thousands of them have settled in this park to escape the fighting but also the lack of food
Around him it's a rush to get help
7'09
Man 8
Abdul Khaleq, refugee department
All the people before were very poor, hungry, and had nothing at all before
Now that the Islamic Emirate is in power, we will try to help these people
People don't like you in the world, you are scary, how do you feel about it?
7'30 man 8
Yes, at first everyone said that the Taliban were not good, that they were bad people...the media said that, everyone did, but now everyone sees that the Taliban regime is made up of good people
The man lends himself rather willingly to the interview game, the Taliban are not many to speak English
or did you learn English?
7'55
man 8
I was a teacher and I spent 8 years in Guantanamo
Really why?
As soon as you have a beard, as soon as you look like a Taliban, they send you there, I told them I was a teacher
and you had done nothing?
nothing at all, after 8 years they told me sorry, it's true you are a teacher
our man is in great demand, 2 new women refugees try to get help and are turned down
the taliban are doing enough to help you?
8'33
Woman 2
I didn't see them helping the Taliban...the only thing that changed is that nobody bothers anyone anymore
Precisely at this moment one of the men next to her starts to insult her...
8'43 woman 2
You my brother, if you continue, I will denounce you to the Taliban...they will tear you to pieces
8'51 woman 2
What is your problem?
8'56 Man 9
Big whore, donkey
8'58 woman 2
You call me a whore? you call me a whore when my son is a dead Taliban
9'01 woman 2
I promise you, I'm going to denounce him to the Taliban so that they can smash him
When we arrived in Afghanistan, the Taliban Ministry of Information gave us a few rules to follow. Do not cover illegal demonstrations, do not show the airport .... and especially do not film in the Panjshir valley ....
This intrigued us....... and we decided to try anyway.
The valley of Panjshir is this mythical valley, that of the commander Massoud. It had resisted to the soviets, it had resisted to the 1st reign of the Taliban, but this time officially it would be totally under their control and the portraits of the commander Massoud have been torn off
The condition to film is to get a yes from this man....the vice governor....a traitor for the inhabitants of the valley because he is himself from the Panjshir and joined the ranks of the Taliban sworn enemy
He's going to let us film but first he wants to make things clear
10'03 man 10
Mullah Shan Malang Rohullah, vice governor
in the Panjshir valley I can assure you there is no more resistance, there is no more enemy
He entrusts us to his right hand man for a tour of the valley.... a tour that starts with the mosque....
it's Friday and a lot of Taliban deployed here are coming for the preaching and this call for peace between Taliban and Panjshir inhabitants
XXXXXXXXXXX
10'30 Man 11 (it can also be in synth)
Between us there is a bit of space that has been created, now we need to talk to each other to reduce this space a bit and to be one people, one nation
After the preaching, our guide ...Taliban spokesman in the area.... takes us through the valley.....
What is the difference between the Taliban before 2001 and the Taliban today?
11'03 Man 12
Nasrrullah Malekada, Taliban spokesman
Before, the Taliban had a rather simple approach to the country's affairs, to people's lives, but after 20 years of political and military combat against the whole world, we are more politicized, more trained
We cross a line of dozens of pick ups... solidly armed Taliban.... who seem to come back from a mission
Our guide takes us to the Taliban gathering point, the mausoleum dedicated to commander Massoud, killed 20 years ago, the fighters have transformed the memorial into a weapons depot with what they have recovered from the Afghan army stocks
Is the fighting over here?
11'51 man 12
Yes, no more fighting here
The must for the Taliban is to go to the tomb of the commander Massoud...you have to enter through the window...they ask us not to show it
Commander Massoud is the enemy of all time....
12'09
Put this on Facebook.
the glass on the tomb was broken when the Taliban arrived and then restored in a hurry...for the sake of reunification, we avoid spitting on his memory
12'24
Man 12
Nasrrullah Malekada, Taliban spokesman
for me he is not a hero, he did not manage to bring security in 40 years of war, we did it in one month
Everywhere on this piece of mountain, the equipment paid by the Americans and abandoned by the Afghan army ....
12'46 man 12
It's stuck there because we don't have the key, but it's easy to use
We hear shooting in the distance, we ask him again if the fighting is really over
12'57
Man 12
"it's not important, it's only shooting for nothing .... their leaders have gone abroad, they are up in the Mountain, where there is no one else"
Nasrullah shows us their new weapon of war fallen from the sky, he tells us that he has 7 children....1 boy and 6 girls
13'24 Man 12
This is my last one
-How do you imagine her in 20 years?
13'30 Male 12
In 20 years.... she will be -I know- a doctor, she will study Islam, she will help people
VO: For the moment his wife is a housewife
13'41 man 12
The greatest responsibility belongs to women. In Afghanistan and even in other countries. They have the household and the education of the children.... that's a lot of responsibility....
VO: This evening, there the Taliban leave suddenly towards the mountain, weapons in the hand..... one does not give us detail but we will learn later that a clash took place with the resistance and that it is this last one which had the top and inflicted losses to the Taliban
We go back down to Kabul...here the atmosphere is very different on this Friday of vacation...the city is crowded at the edge of this lake, with new amateurs of horse riding and tours....
The Taliban discover the joys of the capital...with the taste of victory
14'29 Man 13
Ramatullah Habib Zaï, Taliban brigade leader
There are even more people here than before. It shows that life is starting again with the Taliban...and that's a blessing. So my men and I came to watch and enjoy it a little bit
some Taliban venture on the pirate boat....we are prevented from filming them enjoying these too trivial joys...but we can see them screaming like children....fighters who after years of war are enjoying this new world that belongs to them from now on
15'04
Signature
Sébastien Faure
Karim Amin
Gabriella Ackermann
Pierre Bader