Video: Afghanistan

War Crimes Scandal Exposed — Panorama, BBC

The government announced the closure of investigations into alleged war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan before a single soldier was prosecuted. But has there been a cover-up at the highest levels of the British military? Reporter Richard Bilton meets UK detectives who talk for the first time about how they were prevented from prosecuting soldiers suspected of serious crimes. And he reveals evidence that suggests the Ministry of Defence and senior officers were involved in the cover-up of torture and illegal killings. Read news article.

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The Trauma of War — Our World, BBC

For nearly 40 years Afghanistan has been in a constant state of war. How has this affected the mental health of its people? With unprecedented access to Afghanistan's only secure mental health unit Sahar Zand meets patients, including a former Taliban fighter, struggling to deal with the trauma of war.

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Taliban Oil — Fenris Film

The little-known story of secret negotiations between the Taliban and the US to build two pipelines, one for oil and the other for gas, travelling through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India — a distance of well over 1,700km. Afghanistan was set to earn $400m per year in transportation costs, which would have significantly enriched the Afghan government's income at that time.

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ISIL and the Taliban — Najibullah Quraishi and Jamie Doran, Aljazeera

Raising its black flag over the rugged mountainous regions of Afghanistan, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has emerged as a new threat to the war-ravaged country as it battles the Taliban for supremacy.

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The Killing of Farkhunda — Our World, BBC

In March this year, a furious mob of men attacked 27-year-old Farkhunda Malikzada at a mosque in the Afghan capital, Kabul. She had been accused of burning the Koran — an offence for which, it turned out, she was not guilty. Farkhunda was beaten, thrown off a roof, stamped on, run over with a car, and finally, set on fire. The sickening attack was recorded in detail on mobile phones by the many people who stood and watched. Nearby police did not intervene to prevent her death. In this programme, which some viewers may find disturbing, the BBC’s Zarghuna Kargar, herself an Afghan woman, tells Farkhunda’s story.

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Bitter Lake — Adam Curtis, BBC

Bitter Lake is a new, adventurous and epic film by Adam Curtis that explains why the big stories that politicians tell us have become so simplified that we can’t really see the world any longer. The narrative goes all over the world, America, Britain, Russia and Saudi Arabia — but the country at the heart of it is Afghanistan. Because Afghanistan is the place that has confronted our politicians with the terrible truth — that they cannot understand what is going on any longer.

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Valuable Mineral Resources Found in Afghanistan — News Hour, PBS

A US geological survey has uncovered at least $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan. Margaret Warner talks to NY Times reporter James Risen on what the valuable natural resources could mean for the Afghan economy and the ongoing war with the Taliban.

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Shadow Secrets — The Dossier

Compiled, edited and produced by theDossier, this film looks at the origins and history of the Afghan Mujahedin and al-Qaeda, and their associations with various intelligence agencies including the CIA, FBI, MI6 and those of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

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Oil, Drugs and the Future of Afghanistan (2002) — Peninsula Peace & Justice Center

Filmed in 2002, this presentation by Peter Dale Scott was for the most part accurate in its analysis of the Afghan war. Scott explains why Afghanistan is important to America and its geostrategy in the region. He also outlines why oil, drugs and terrorism are often found intertwined.

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The New Great Game: The River of Destiny — Iqbal Malhotra

This film documents the political scenario of the past, present and future in Central Asia with special emphasis on the role of Islamic fundamentalism and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Filmed before the terror attacks of September 11th, it provides an in-depth analysis of the events taking place in Afghanistan, events connected quite directly with the attacks. more »

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Massoud: Destiny's Afghan — Iqbal Malhotra

Born in 1953 in Panjshir, Ahmed Shah Massoud became one of Afghanistan's most successful military leaders. A man of humble origins, Massoud became a secular leader for whom all Afghans were equal. As a military officer, he was a great strategist, both practical and pragmatic. After repelling the Soviet army's troops in the early 1980s, Massoud was nicknamed the “Lion of Panjshir”, but his triumphs were not tainted by bloodlust or intoxication of power. Massoud was assassinated two days before the 9/11 attacks. more »

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Inside al-Qaeda — Newsnight Special, BBC

A spy who infiltrated al-Qaeda and met some of the world's most senior terrorist figures has spoken exclusively to the BBC. In the 1990s he trained in the terror camps of Afghanistan and warned of al-Qaeda's emerging threat.

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British terror suspect ‘escapes’ in Pakistan — Channel 4 News

A British man who's been accused of involvement in a plot to blow up planes flying from London to the US has “escaped” from custody in Pakistan. It appears that Rashid Rauf is connected with Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI. more »

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Declassified: The Taliban (2005) — Shearer, Kosh, Flynn

In 1979, the CIA armed and funded the Mujahedin leaving a programme worth millions of dollars in the hands of the Pakistani intelligence service (ISI). Among the Mujahedin was a rich Saudi called Osama bin Laden. By 1984, the US was spending $200 million a year on the Afghan/Soviet war. After five years, President Reagan and the CIA decided to triple the budget for weapons to the Mujahedin. The Taliban emerge later in the mid-1990s out of the Pakistani madrassas. During this period the ISI introduced bin Laden to Taliban leaders.

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TAPI or IPI? — BooHooHooMan

The proposed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline has a rival: the “peace pipeline” aka the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline. They both aim to supply Pakistan and India with much-needed gas. This explains, to some extent, the increased troop levels in Afghanistan and the increasingly aggressive stance towards Iran. More detailed information can be found here and here.

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Pakistan: The Threat Within — Nic Robertson, CNN

CNN news-special that investigates Pakistan's role in the “war on terror”. Reveals, to some extent, the ISI's support of terrorist groups.

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Afghanistan — Bremner, Bird & Fortune

A satirical look at British and American foreign policy towards Afghanistan over the years. (The war couldn't have anything to do with a pipeline, could it?)

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Musharraf defends his spy service (2006) — Newsnight, BBC

A UK Ministry of Defence paper says Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI, indirectly backs terrorism by supporting religious parties in the country. Indian police also claim that the ISI planned the train blasts in Mumbai. In Musharraf's new book, he claims that the killer of American journalist Daniel Pearl was in fact a British MI6 agent, Omar Sheikh. Sheikh is alleged to have wired $100,000 to lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta, on the orders of former ISI director-general Lt-Gen Mahmud Ahmad. An alleged bomb-plotter has also accused the ISI of running terrorist training camps.

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Britain's Heroin Fix — Panorama, BBC

Jane Corbin travels through Afghanistan to find out why opium production is out of control. She talks to farmers to discover why the opium crop has risen twenty-fold since the Taleban cracked down on it, virtually eradicating it in 2001. The smugglers get off scot-free and powerful officials within the government take their cut of the drug trade. (DynCorp couldn't possibly be involved... could they? — Who benefits from the Afghan opium trade?)

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The Power of Nightmares — Adam Curtis, BBC

TV documentary that explores how the idea that we are threatened by a hidden and organised terrorist network is an illusion.

Part 1: Baby it's cold outside

Part 2: The phantom victory

Part 3: The shadows in the cave

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In the National Interest (2002) — Nightline, ABC

Special news report on the politics, the players and the potential of developing a relationship with Central Asia to end dependence on Persian Gulf oil.

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