Subtítulos (217)
0:01The one that was really dangerous for me was
the time that we needed to distribute the
0:06books and notebooks to the very far village.
0:11I was working with an international organization
teaching the girls out there.
0:16So we put all the books in the
back of the car.
0:19Of course, my father-in-law and a driver
accompany me.
0:23During the way, crossing the road, we're stopped
by the Taliban.
0:27They keep everyone separated so they cannot
listen to each other.
0:31So, I was the only woman sitting out there.
0:35All the trunks and backs of our cars
were full of the books.
0:40I was really sure that this time they will
definitely kill me.
0:47When the Taliban first ruled Afghanistan.
0:50They oppressed Afghans with laws
drawn from tribal codes
0:53and a strict interpretation of Islam.
0:56Their control was total and brutal.
1:00Two decades later, the Taliban
have taken back power.
1:03Every year, I've seen how the Taliban, they
grew stronger.
1:07They have taken over Afghanistan twice.
1:10Not because they're good at governing.
1:12But because of the other actors in Afghanistan,
because of their failures.
1:17"Afghanistan falls to Taliban control."
1:34Soviet troops were everywhere throughout the
capital and the country."
1:37"Moscow claimed they were there because they'd
been invited."
1:41"That version of events found few believers
elsewhere."
1:44In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded
Afghanistan to back an ally
1:48the new Communist Afghan government.
1:50Together, they wanted to transform the country
into a socialist state.
1:54But they faced resistance.
1:55"The Afghan crisis won't be easily dismissed,
and a glance at the map shows why."
2:01Afghanistan is a deeply divided country.
2:03At the time, only a small fraction of the population
lived in a few major cities
2:07including some who supported the government.
2:10But the majority of Afghans lived in rural
areas where people were generally poor, conservative,
2:15and very devoted to Islam and tribal traditions.
2:19For many, authority came from tribal leaders
of their respective ethic groups.
2:23Not the government in Kabul.
2:25So when the Communist Afghan government
tried to enforce land reforms
2:28and abolish social codes,
rural Afghans revolted.
2:32They formed independent militias, but were
collectively known as the mujahideen.
2:36"These are real mujahideen."
2:38"They are scattered and almost
impossible to unite."
2:41"They operate best in small groups and in
their home the mountains."
2:45The Soviet Army managed to occupy the cities,
but met fierce resistance from the mujahideen
2:51The Soviets responded by pounding the countryside
with bombs, and razing entire villages.
2:56But it galvanized more people
to join the rebellion.
3:00Thousands of muslim volunteers from around
the world joined the mujahideen.
3:04Countries eager to gain influence in Afghanistan
started arming and funding militias.
3:09Even the US sent weapons to drain the Soviets,
their main rival.
3:13The support allowed the mujahideen
to fight for 10 years.
3:17Around a million Afghans died and
6 million were displaced.
3:24In 1989, the Soviets gave up and left.
3:273 years after that, the Afghan Communist
government fell.
3:30But the violence didn’t end.
3:32The mujahideen groups turned on each other.
3:34And by 1992, Afghanistan was consumed
by civil war.
3:39Door to door, street to street, road to road.
3:43Region to region, province to province.
3:46There was always fighting.
3:47This is Sweeta Noori.
3:49She was born and raised in Afghanistan.
3:51And has worked there for years promoting
education and women’s rights.
3:55They start searching the houses to find if
there is a beautiful or young woman
4:00so they can marry by force.
4:03It was really the worst time.
4:07Kandahar was especially violent.
4:10Several mujahideen and criminal groups terrorized
the population.
4:13In the spring of 1994, a group of locals here
had enough.
4:17They asked this man, Mohammed Omar, for help.
4:21He had fought in the Soviet war, before becoming
a teacher, or mullah, at an Islamic school
4:28He and a few other mullahs gathered some students,
and drove out the mujahideen.
4:32When more students joined, they captured the
whole district.
4:37This group became known as the Taliban, which
means ‘the students’, in Pashto.
4:42As the sole militia in Kandahar, they brought
peace for the first time in years.
4:47And that’s exactly why many people
supported them.
4:50If the mullahs and imams say that the color
of the milk is black, all the people accepting
4:56that because it comes from mullahs.
4:58Why not giving them an opportunity
to take over the government.
5:03At this point, the Taliban were all members
of Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group
5:08Which made it easier for them to take over
the mostly Pashtun-areas in the south.
5:12Then they moved west and north, defeating
some warlords and bribing others to join them.
5:18As they gained territory, they also found
a way to fund their expansion.
5:21By taking over these highways they raised
millions through taxes.
5:25And by gaining control of Afghanistan's
poppy-growing regions
5:28they profited from the illegal opium trade.
5:30But the most crucial support came from a neighbor.
5:33Pakistan was worried that one of these mujahideen
groups would take power
5:37and ally with its enemy, India.
5:39Effectively surrounding them.
5:40So they gave the Taliban tons of weapons
early on.
5:44In September 1996, the Taliban entered Kabul
and took control of Afghanistan.
5:54My name is Nagieb Khaja.
5:55I've been covering the war in Afghanistan
for 17 years.
5:58When the Taliban took Kabul in 1996, they
set up a government that was basically
6:06Both its leadership and fighting base were
predominantly Pashtun teachers and students.
6:11It was basically a very inexperienced government
without any practical knowledge
6:19Yet, they decided to remake the country based
on a religious ideology that took shape
6:25What makes the Taliban special is that these
madrassas called Deobandi madrassas
6:31are inspired by a certain interpretation of Islam
influenced by Pashtun culture.
6:37Music, television, and even flying kites
were banned.
6:40Men had to grow beards.
6:42But the most draconian rules
were placed on women.
6:45They weren't allowed to go out
without a male relative.
6:49They couldn't educate themselves.
6:52They were practically banned from working.
6:54Many schools for girls went underground.
6:56Like the one Sweeta ran in Kabul.
6:58It was like only 20 meters away from
the Taliban camp.
7:04I had like a good number of the students coming
to my school.
7:09It was all done in secret.
7:11And one day, the Taliban enter.
7:17So I stopped them in front of the door and
I asked them to wait.
7:22My students just notice that they hide the
books and take out their holy Qurans.
7:33They would start beating me.
7:36And same thing they would do with
the family of the girls.
7:40Beatings, stonings, and public executions
were common punishments
7:43under the Taliban regime.
7:45It’s why most countries, except Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia and the UAE
7:49refused to recognize them
as a legitimate government.
7:52But the Taliban soon found other allies.
7:54"The most wanted terrorist in the world:
Osama bin Laden."
7:58"...by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban."
8:00"The ruling Taliban's refusal to surrender
suspected terrorist bin Laden."
8:05"The US will hold Afghanistan responsible
for any attack linked to bin Laden."
8:09"You're looking at, obviously a very disturbing
live shot there."
8:13"That is the World Trade Center..."
8:15After the 9/11 attacks, a US-led coalition
invaded Afghanistan to hunt down bin Laden
8:19and topple the Taliban.
8:22With the help of these mujahideen leaders
it took less than 3 months to capture Kabul.
8:26Bin Laden escaped but the Taliban regime surrendered
and asked for amnesty.
8:31So basically, the Taliban, they don't get a choice.
8:34They can either become prisoners
or continue fighting.
8:39The Taliban leadership fled to Pakistan, while
most fighters went into hiding in rural Afghanistan.
8:45Then, the US promised to rebuild the country
and turn it into a democracy.
8:51It worked with the UN to set up an
Afghan government and Army.
8:54And invited mujahideen leaders to run
the local governments.
8:59Then they gave the government billions of
dollars to build roads, bridges, hospitals,
9:02and utilities in the cities and rural areas.
9:06But many of those projects never took shape.
9:09The Afghan government was deeply corrupt
and stole millions.
9:12And in 2003, the US invaded Iraq and diverted
a lot of its money.
9:17What remained was spent mostly in the cities.
9:19While rural Afghanistan was neglected.
9:21And increasingly under attack.
9:26While the US was trying to rebuild Afghanistan,
it was simultaneously waging a war on it.
9:31The American military was hunting down
Taliban and al-Qaeda members
9:35largely in these rural areas.
9:37And funding and arming these mujahideen leaders
in exchange for their help.
9:41But it all backfired.
9:43Drone-strikes and night raids increasingly
killed innocent civilians.
9:46And the mujahideen leaders started terrorizing
people, effectively becoming warlords.
9:51"The suffering of Afghanistan in certain parts
of the country have not ended."
9:57"We still keep losing our civilian lives."
10:02"It's becoming to be heavy for us.
10:04It's not understandable anymore."
10:09Basically, the Americans, they created
their own monsters.
10:14As early as 2004, the Taliban leadership regrouped
in Pakistan and started recruiting fighters.
10:20Like the 90s, they attracted Pashtun fighters
in the south and east.
10:24Butt this time they also attracted non-Pashtuns,
including Afghans from the west and north.
10:29But the thing that they have in common is
that they are from rural Afghanistan.
10:33They had been harassed by the local authorities.
10:36They had relatives being killed by
US aerial bombings.
10:40They were caught between
a rock and a hard place
10:43and they ended up choosing the hard place.
10:46And that was the Taliban.
10:48Soon they were ambushing
US, NATO, and Afghan troops.
10:52And introducing more sophisticated tactics
like roadside bombs.
10:55And suicide attacks.
10:57Enlisting diverse groups, even those that
didn’t share their strict religious beliefs,
11:01made it possible for the Taliban to take territory
in many parts of the country.
11:06For funding, they relied on familiar tactics,
taxing highways and trading poppy.
11:11Plus, they continued to have help from Pakistan,
who not only protected Taliban leaders
11:15but also armed, funded, and trained their fighters.
11:19By 2008, the Taliban controlled huge swaths
of rural Afghanistan
11:23and even threatened some cities.
11:28"And as Commander in Chief, I have determined
that it is in our vital, national interest
11:33to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan."
11:37In 2009, the US responded by sending a surge
of troops for 18 months.
11:42They cleared major cities, but couldn’t
dislodge the Taliban from the rural areas.
11:48In 2012, the US reduced its troops and relied
on the Afghan Government and Army
11:54But years of corruption had led many Afghans
to distrust the government.
11:58Leaving room for the Taliban to start governing
their own territories.
12:02But this version of the Taliban's governance
was more flexible than their rule in the 90s.
12:07In some places, their governance looked very
much like the old Taliban in the mid 90s.
12:13In other areas, they are much more pragmatic.
12:15They had girls' schools and they didn't practices,
you know, rules about beards and TV shows.
12:21It was proof that you had
a very fragmented Taliban.
12:26That was key that allowed them to consolidate
power and wait for the US to leave.
12:36In February 2020, the Trump administration
went straight to the Taliban to strike a deal.
12:40They agreed to leave Afghanistan.
12:43In August 2021, the Biden administration
delivered on that deal.
12:47As the final troops pulled out,
the Taliban attacked.
12:50The world watched as the Afghan army surrendered,
the government fled
12:54and the Taliban entered Kabul unopposed.
12:59In September, the Taliban announced a new
interim government.
13:02And it looks familiar.
13:03Its top leadership is mostly Pashtun.
13:05Many of whom served in the 1990s regime.
13:08But their base, like their fighters, is far
more diverse.
13:12Which makes this new regime unpredictable.
13:15It will be a problem for the Taliban if they
don't tolerate variation of interpretation
13:21of Islam in the movement which could end up
with a violent conflict
13:26between the different parties.
13:28I'm convinced that they haven't agreed on
what kind of Afghanistan they want right now.
13:34There is a small window of hope if the international
community put force on the Taliban
13:41just make sure that the women and people
have their basic needs.
13:46Access to education, access to jobs.
