Abstract:

CBC journalist Arthur Kent has covered that war-ravaged country since 1988 when the Soviet army battled the mujaheddin and went to an inglorious defeat. This film was produced in 2000 and updated in September 2001 (before the U.S. bombed Afghanistan) when Kent dared to shoot with a hidden camera. Footage shot a decade ago shows a deeply troubled, poor country – but one in which the Afghans had their freedom, their culture, and their spirit. Under the extremist Taliban regime, the most repressive edicts had been issued; the playing of music was banned; women had to be heavily veiled and were not allowed in schools; adultery was punished by stoning, and theft by amputation. Although the Taliban claimed to have eliminated the cultivation of poppies and the processing of opium, huge quantities of high yield white and red poppies were still being grown. Revenues from this lucrative trade helped finance the government. We are shown the areas of the Northern Alliance (before the guerrilla leader Massoud was assassinated), where Afghans lived in their traditional culture. Interviews with foreign aid workers show how the effectiveness of international aid organizations was thwarted by corruption. The documentary reminds us that the Afghans were as much victims of the Taliban as we are.