 |
Afghan Stories opens at the World Trade Center just before the Americans bomb Afghanistan. Having already suffered 24 years of war, I wonder how the Afghans will survive their continued misfortune. I set out to learn how a generation of war has affected the Afghans.
My journey begins in Brooklyn just a few days later with Walied Osman, an Afghan American entrepreneur. Walied's sister was nearly killed on September 11th when the twin towers collapsed. He tells me her first reaction: "The topic of Afghanistan came up and I remember my sister said with great anger - bomb Afghanistan". Looking for a greater understanding of his people, Walied decides to help me make my film.
Our first stop is in Queens where Walied introduces me to his friend Ad Sharza, a member of the Afghan royal family who was once imprisoned by the Taliban. Sharza tells us how he was tortured and warns us that we will find nothing but misery in his homeland: "We should drop an atomic bomb on Afghanistan and start from scratch".
We set out for Tajikistan, the natural gateway to Afghanistan. While we wait for permission to cross the border, we're invited to live with an Afghan refugee family. Ali was formerly a professor of journalism and his wife Shukria was a doctor. They have four children and live in a one room apartment without furniture. Their single desire is to join Ali's mother in Canada, but their visa application has been rejected because they're Afghan. Ali tells us in tears how he lived in Kabul while his house was being bombed by the Mujahidin: "My daughter would ask me if the rocket will kill us. I would say it will hit that beam there. She would fall asleep, but inside I was prepared to die".
We arrive in Afghanistan aboard a cargo plane controlled by the Northern Alliance. In the remote town of Faizabad in North Afghanistan, we live with the town's most revered elder Hadji Ahmed Shamsadin and his son Zia, a soldier. Zia introduces us to the bazaar, streets, mosques and refugee camps of Faizabad. He reminisces about his happy childhood in his town that has been destroyed by 24 years of war. Shamsadin tells us that "children today have no sense of the past. They know only war". He delivers a message on camera to the Afghan American Diaspora: "We have not forgotten you, do no forget us. Come home and rebuild your country".
We next head to Shari Bazurg with Najib Najibullah, the local head of the UN's World Food Program. We join him to celebrate the construction of a road he has helped to build in collaboration with a local community. An engineer we meet along the way explains he is looking for explosives to clear the road. Najib: "Come on…that's the one thing we're not short of in this country". Shari Bazurg is controlled by a local warlord who plans to take us to the celebration. Heavy rain reduces the newly built road to a mudslide and the festivities are cancelled. I ask Najib why he stays in Afghanistan when so many like him have left: "I love my people and we should be with our people through the good times and bad".
Walied and I leave Afghanistan as the Taliban regime crumbles. We return home with a message of hope. Although we have seen the ravages of war, we have met kind and courageous people dedicated to rebuilding their country. But when we deliver our message to the Afghan Diaspora we are surprised by their response.
|
|
|
